Unparalleled Immortal Benevolent And Righteous Hero
by righteousfangyuan
Summary: Do you know what being heroic means? A hero should look at the big picture, not be caught in the moment. Do you think heroes are smart? Or do they just share the values of simpletons? Hero or Coward, it's just a plaything to history. This is the story of a true hero.
1. Rebirth of a True Hero

**Disclaimer: Shoutouts to SkyFarrow, ChibiGeneral, and most importantly of all Gu Zhen Ren**

* * *

 _ **Rebirth of a True Hero**_

"Yami Uzumaki, quietly hand over the Spring Autumn Cicada and I'll give you a quick death!"

"Old bastard, stop attempting to resist anymore, today all of the major factions of justice have combined together just to destroy your devil lair. This place is already covered in inescapable nets, this time you will definitely be decapitated!"

"Yami you damn demon, just because you wanted to cultivate the Spring Autumn Cicada, you've gone and killed thousands of people. You've committed too many unforgivable, heinous sins!"

"Demon, 300 years ago you insulted me, took away my body's purity, killed my entire family and executed my nine generations. From that moment onwards, I hated you with a burning passion! Today, I want you to die!"

…

Yami was in deep green robes that had been torn to shreds. His hair was disheveled and his entire body was covered in blood. He looked around.

The bloody robes waved lightly in the mountain breeze like a war flag.

Fresh blood flowed from the numerous wounds on the body. Just by standing there for a short while, Yami had already accumulated a large pool of blood beneath his feet.

Enemies surrounded him all around; there was already no way out.

It was a forgone conclusion that he would die here.

Yami understood his situation clearly, but even in the face of death his expression did not change, it was calm.

His gaze was quiet, his eyes like deep pools of water in a well, so deep that there seemed to be no end.

The major factions of justice that had surrounded him were not just the experienced elders, but also young and talented heroes. Around the heavily surrounded Yami, some were roaring, some were sneering; there were eyes that were gleaming with light, some holding onto their wounds while looking on fearfully.

They did not move; everyone was wary of Yami's final attack.

For 6 hours this tense moment went on until the evening came, the sun casting its rays upon the side of the mountain. In that moment, it was as if the place was on fire.

Yami, who had been silent as a sculpture the entire time, slowly turned his body.

The group of warriors was suddenly alerted and they all took a big step backwards.

By now the gray mountain rock beneath Yami's feet had long been stained a deep red. Due to losing too much blood, his face had become deathly pale; in the afterglow of the sunset, it suddenly had a brilliant luster upon it.

Looking at the setting sun, Yami lightly laughed. "The sun sets above the blue mountain, the autumn moon with the wind of spring. The morning is fine like hair and night is like snow, whether you succeed or fail when you look back there's nothing left."

As he said this, memories of his previous life of the shinobi world emerged before his eyes.

He was originally the inner demon of a ninja from the shinobi world who found himself reborn in this world, memories intact. He endured a hard life for 300 years and went through another 200 years; about over 500 years of his life flew by in the blink of an eye.

So many memories that were buried deep inside the heart begun to relive themselves, sprouting into life before his eyes.

"I failed in the end." Yami sighed in his heart emotionally, yet there were no regrets.

This end result was something he had foreseen. When he made his decision in the beginning, he had prepared himself for this.

To be a demon is to be merciless and cruel, a murderer and destroyer. There is no place in heaven or Earth for such a thing – turning into an enemy to the world, still having to face the consequences.

"If the Spring Autumn Cicada that I have just cultivated is effective, I shall still be a demon in my next life!" With this thought, Yami couldn't help but let out a big laugh.

"Wicked demon, what are you laughing about?"

"Be careful everyone, the demon is going to attack before his final moments!"

"Hurry up and surrender the Spring Autumn Cicada!"

The group of warlords surged forward; at this moment, with a loud bang, Yami was engulfed in a blinding surge of energy.

…

The spring rain quietly rained down on Elemental Mountain.

It was already late in the night, a slight breeze blowing with the light rain.

Yet Elemental Mountain was not covered in darkness; from the side down to the foot of the mountain, dozens of tiny lights shone like a bright band.

These lights shone from tall buildings, even though it could not be said to match up to ten thousand lights, yet it was still a few thousand in number.

Situated on the mountain was Konoha Village, giving the vast lonely mountain a rich touch of human civilization.

In the middle of the Konoha Village was a magnificent pavilion. A grand ceremony was being held at this moment, and the lights were even brighter than ever, radiating with glory.

"Ancestors, please bless us! We pray that this ceremony will bring many young men of outstanding talent and intelligence, bringing their families new blood and hopes!" The head of the Konoha clan had a middle-aged appearance, his sideburns were graying and he was clothed in ceremonial white robes, kneeling on the brownish yellow floor. His body was straight with his hands held together, eyes tightly shut as he prayed sincerely.

He was facing a tall black case; there were three layers on the case, all housing memorial tablets of ancestors. On both sides of the tablets was copper incense, the smoke rising.

Behind him were over 10 people kneeling in a similar fashion as him. They wore loose white ceremonial garments, and were all the clan's elders, important members, and those who had much authority.

After finishing prayers, the Konoha clan head bent his waist with his two hands pressing against the floor and kowtowed. As the forehead knocked against the brownish yellow floor, light thuds could be heard.

Behind him, the elders and important clan members solemnly and quietly followed suit.

With this, the hall was filled with light thuds as the heads knocked against the floor.

When the ceremony was over, the crowd of people slowly got up from the ground and silently walked out of the sacred temple.

In the hallway, sighs of reliefs were heard from the crowd of elders and the atmosphere loosened up. The noise of discussion slowly rose.

"Time flies too quickly, in the blink of an eye, a year has gone by."

"The previous ceremony feels like it just happened yesterday, I can still recall it vividly."

"Tomorrow is the opening of the annual grand ceremony, I wonder what new clan blood will show up this year?"

"Ah, I hope that some highly talented youths will appear. The Konoha clan hasn't seen a genius emerge for three years now."

"Agreed. The Kiri Village, Iwa village these few years all had some talented geniuses appear. Especially that Haku Yuki from the Kiri clan, his natural talent is quite terrifying."

It was unclear who had brought up the name Haku Yuki , but the faces of the elders started to show worry.

The boy's qualifications were splendid; in just a short period of two years worth of training, he had already reached the level of a level three Gu Master.

In the younger generation, he could be said as the most outstanding one. It was to the point that even the older generation could feel pressured from the promising youth.

In time, he would inevitably become the pillar of the Kiri clan. At the very least he would also be an independently strong warrior. No one ever doubted this fact.

"But for this year's youths that will be participating in the ceremony, not all hope is lost."

"You're right, Minato's side has appeared a young genius. Able to start talking after three months, able to walk after four. At five years of age he was able to recite poetry, seems exceptionally intelligent, especially talented. What a pity that his parents died early, now he is being raised by his uncle and aunt."

"Yes, this one has wisdom at a young age, also harboring big ambitions. In the recent years I have heard his creations 'The Raven', 'The Road Not Taken' and 'A Dream Within A Dream', what a genius!"

The Konoha clan head was the last to walk out of the ancestral temple. After slowly closing the door, he heard the discussions that were going on in the corridor among the clan elders.

He knew at once that the elders were discussing about the youth known as Yami Uzumaki at that moment.

As the head of the clan, it is natural to pay attention to the outstanding and prominent young ones. And it so happens that Yami was the most eye-catching one amongst the juniors.

Experience has shown that those who have photographic memory at a young age, or those who possess strength that could rival an adult, or had other great inborn talents, all had outstanding cultivation qualifications.

"If this child shows A grade potential, with great care he could even compete against Haku Yuki. Even if it is B grade, in future he could also become a banner of the Konoha Clan. But with this sort of early intelligence, the percentage of B grade is not that big, but highly possible to be an A grade." With this thought, the Konoha clan head curled up his lips slowly into a smile.

At once, with a cough he faced the clan elders and said, "Everyone, the hour is late, for tomorrow's opening ceremony you should all rest well tonight and take care of your energy levels."

At his words, the elders looked startled. They looked at each other with a hint of caution in their eyes.

The clan head's words meant well, but everyone knew what he was aiming to convey.

Every year to compete for these young geniuses, the elders would fight among themselves to the point of reddened ears and bleeding heads.

They should stay well rested and replenish themselves until tomorrow comes where the competition begins.

Especially with that Yami, whose A grade potential was extremely huge. Not counting the fact that both his parents were deceased, and also that he was one of the two only descendants of Minato's bloodline left. If one was able to get their hands on and bring him into their own family line, with great care and training, one could secure himself a hundred years of prosperity!

"However, I'm going to go ahead and say what needs to be said first. When you compete, do it fair and square; no tricks and conspiracies are allowed, or damage to the clan's unity. Please keep this in mind, all of you!" The clan head strictly instructed.

"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare."

"We'll keep it in mind."

"Then this is good night, please take care."

The clan elders slowly dispersed with deep thoughts.

Not long after that, the long corridor became quiet. The wind from the spring rain breezed through the window, and the clan head lightly walked towards the window.

Immediately, he breathed in the fresh moist air of the mountain, how refreshing it felt.

This was the third floor of the garret; the clan head looked out of the window. He could see half of the entire Konoha Village.

Even if it was late in the night, most of the homes in the village still had lights on, which was unusual.

Tomorrow is the opening ceremony, and it affects everyone's best interests. A kind of excited yet tense atmosphere had enveloped the hearts of the people of the clan, and thus naturally many people could not sleep well.

"This is the hope for the clan's future." With the many lights dancing in his eyes, the clan head sighed.

At the very same moment, a pair of clear eyes quietly looked at the same lights sparkling in the night, full of complex feelings inside.

"Konoha Village, this is 500 years ago?! Looks like the Spring Autumn Cicada really worked…" Yami quietly gazed, standing by the window, letting the rain from the wind hit his body.

The use of the Spring Autumn Cicada is to reverse time. In the Ten Great Mystical Gu rankings, the Spring Autumn Cicada managed to be ranked seven, naturally it was no mere creature.

In short, it is the ability to be reborn.

"With the use of the Spring Autumn Cicada I have been reborn, going back to the time of 500 years ago!" Yami stretched out his hand, his sight fixated on his own young and soft, pale palms, then slowly clenched them, embracing the truth of this reality with all his might.

The sound of the drizzling rain hitting softly against the window sill filling his ears, he slowly closed his eyes, opening them after a long while. He sighed, "500 years of experience, it really feels like a dream."

But he knew it clearly: This was definitely not a dream.

* * *

It is said in legend that a river of time exists in this world. It supports the world's time flow and circulation. And by using the Spring Autumn Cicada's power, one can travel back upstream and return to the past.

There are much conflicting opinions on this mythical tale. Many do not believe in it, and some are skeptical to the truth.

Few people actually dare to believe it.

Because every time one uses the Spring Autumn Cicada one must pay with his life, letting his entire body and cultivation be the driving force to use its power.

Such a price is just too expensive, and the thing that people just cannot accept is the fact that after paying with your life, you don't even know what the outcome is.

So even if someone has the Spring Autumn Cicada, they would not dare use it so indiscriminately. What if the rumors were fake, and it was just a scam?

If Yami were not cornered into such a state, he would also not use it so hurriedly. But now, Yami is thoroughly convinced. Because the reality of the truth has been laid before his eyes and there was no denying it. He had really been reborn!

"It's just a pity… From the start I had wasted an absurd amount of effort, killing hundreds of thousands of people, making even the heavens furious and inciting people's vengeance, went through suffering and multiple hardships to finally attain and refine this good Gu…" Yami thought with a sigh. Even though he had been reborn, the Spring Autumn Cicada did not come with him.

Humans are the greatest among thousands of creatures, Gu are the essence of heaven and Shinobi World.

Gu comes in thousands of shapes and sizes of strange and mysterious variety – there are too many to count. Some Gu after being used once or even twice or thrice will completely dissipate. And some Gu can be reused again and again as long as it is not used over its limits.

That said, it is probable that the Spring Autumn Cicada is one of those types that can only be used once before disappearing for good.

"But even if its gone, I can still refine another. I have done it in my previous life, why can't I do it in this life?" After the thoughts of pity were put aside, Yami's heart burst forth ambitious and determined feelings.

To be able to be reborn, this fact made the loss of the Spring Autumn Cicada entirely acceptable.

Not to mention he had something precious with him, so its not like he lost everything.

This precious treasure was his 500 years worth of memories and experience.

In his memories are a multitude of all kinds of treasures and precious items that no one has opened yet in this time. All the big events and incidents he can easily grasp by the veins of history. There are a countless number of figures: some are predecessors of hidden levels; some are geniuses, some people not even born yet. Also in these 500 years of life are memories of painstaking cultivation and rich combat experience.

With all these memories and experiences, he had undeniably grasped the overall situation and upcoming opportunities. With good planning and execution, he could empower the situation with great fierceness and elegance. It was not a problem now that he could take a step ahead of others, breaking the higher boundaries!

"So how do I go about this hmmm…" Yami was incredibly sensible. He collected himself together and faced the night rain outside the window, pondering. With this thought, things started to feel complicated. After thinking for a moment, his brows wrinkled deeper.

500 years of time was a rather long period. Don't mention those long muddled memories that cannot be recalled, even remembering the hidden locations of treasures or special encounters of people were a lot, but the main issue was that the locations were separated among a long distance and had to be accessed or visited at certain periods of time.

"The most important thing is cultivation. The me right now has not even opened my Primeval Sea, hasn't stepped on the path to be a Gu Master. I'm just a mortal! I have to hurry and cultivate, catching up to history and seize the opportunities with the best advantage."

Not to forget, many of these hidden locations of treasures were useless without proper foundation. Instead it would just be walking into a wolf's den, looking for death.

The problem in front of Yami right now was cultivation.

He had to increase the level of his foundation as fast as possible. If he were slow like his previous life, he would just be too late.

"To cultivate as fast as possible, I would have to borrow the resources from the clan. With the state I am right now, I have no power or ability to travel back and forth across the dangerous mountains. Even an ordinary mountain boar can take my life. If I can reach the cultivation of a Third level Gu Master, I'd have the means to protect myself and leave the mountain."

Through the eyes of a 500 year old person who has cultivated in the Demonic Way, Elemental Mountain was just way too small, Konoha Village even feels like a cage.

But while the cage restricted freedom, the sturdy bars of the cage also brought about a certain kind of safety.

"Hmm, in this short period of time I'll just stay in this cage. As long as I can reach Third level Gu Master, I can leave this poor mountain. Luckily tomorrow is the Awakening Ceremony, I'll be able to start training as a Gu Master soon after."

When he thought about the Awakening Ceremony, old memories that had long been buried away in his heart resurfaced themselves.

"Talent huh…" He sneered, his gaze focused out the window.

At this moment, the door to his room was lightly pushed open and a young teenager walked in.

"Big brother, why are you standing in the rain by the window side ?"

The youth was thin, slightly shorter than Yami. His face resembled Yami's features greatly. As Yami turned his head to look at this young man, a complicated look flickered across his face. Two lives ago, back in the Shinobi World, he had resided in that fool as his inner demon. Upon the first rebirth to this world, he had been surprised to learn that now they were twin brothers. Although this world was very different than the Shinobi world, Yami had seen many familiar faces over the past 500 years. However, besides himself, none of them seemed to remember anything from the Shinobi World. Yami had even theorized that perhaps these that these doppelgangers were their own people, unconnected from the Shinobi world, and that he was an exception.

"It's you huh, my twin little brother." He raised his eyebrows, his expression returning to that of cold indifference. Naruto lowered his head and looked at his own toes.

"I saw that big brother's window was not shut closed, so I thought I'd come in here and close it. Tomorrow is the Awakening Ceremony, it's so late and you haven't gone to bed yet big brother. If Uncle and Aunty knew, they would probably be worried."

Naruto was not surprised at Yami's coldness. Ever since he was a small child, his older brother had always been like that. Sometimes he would wonder, maybe a genius is just like this, being rather different from ordinary people. Even though he had the same look as his older brother, he felt that he was ordinary like an ant.

They were born from the same womb at the same time, and yet why are the heavens so unfair? His older brother had been endowed with gleaming talent, while he himself was as ordinary as a stone.

Everyone around him would say, "This is Yami's little brother-" when they mentioned him. His aunt and uncle would constantly tell him to learn from his older brother. Even when he looked into the mirror sometimes, he would feel disgusted as he saw his own face!

These thoughts had been ongoing for many years, accumulating day and night deeply into his heart. Like a giant stone pressing against his heart, these few years Naruto's head lowered more and more, and he also grew quieter.

"Worried…" At the thought of his aunt and uncle, Yami laughed silently. He could still remember clearly how the parents of this world had both lost their lives in one of the clan missions. When he was only 3 years old, he and his little brother became orphans.

In the name of upbringing, his aunt and uncle grabbed hold of the inheritance left behind by his parents while inflicting harsh treatment against his younger brother and himself.

He originally planned to just be a normal person, even planning to conceal his abilities and bide his time. However his life was difficult, making Yami have no choice but to choose to expose some of his talents.

The so-called talent is merely but a mature and intellect soul that carried a few of Shinobi World's popular ancient poems.

With this he managed to startle people and capture attention. Because of pressure from the outside world, the young Yami made a decision to keep a cold indifferent expression to protect himself, reducing the possibility of revealing any secrets. Over time the coldness would become a habit that he was accustomed to expressing.

Thus his aunt and uncle were no longer harsh on him and his younger brother. As the years passed and they got older, the future became more optimistic and better treatment increased. This was not done out of love, but a type of investment.

It's hilarious how his little brother never saw this truth; he was the same easy to manipulate naive dumbass, shinobi world or not. Actually, this world's Naruto was much worse than the Ninja Yami remembered; not only was he deceived by their aunt and uncle, he also started burying resentments inside. Although he looked like a good-natured and honest boy now, in Yami's memories when his brother was found out to be an A grade talent the clan spent much effort in raising him with all they had. After that all the buried resentment and jealous and hate inside was released, and many a time Naruto would target, suppress and make life difficult for his own older brother.

As for his own grade, it was only C grade talent.

Fate loved to play a joke.

A pair of twins – The older one only had C grade talent, but had been known as a genius for a dozen years. The younger one who was always overlooked was the one with A grade talent instead.

The results of the Awakening Ceremony had left the clan shocked. The treatment of the two brothers had suddenly reversed after that.

The younger brother was like a dragon rising up to the heavens; the older brother was like a phoenix that fell down to the ground.

After that came the many hardships and troubles from his own younger brother, the cold eyes of his aunt and uncle, the contempt of the clans people.

Did he hate it?

Yami in his previous life hated it. He hated his own lack of talent, he hated how heartless the clan was, hated how fate was so unfair. But now, with his 500 years of life experiences, using this to rethink this course his heart was actually calm, not a shred of hatred.

What was there to be gain from resentment?

Thinking about if from another point of view, he could understand his younger brother, aunt and uncle, even those enemies from 500 years later who attacked him.

The strong eat the weak, survival of the fittest; these have always been the rules of this world. Everyone has self-ambitions, always struggling to grasp the opportunities. Among all the war and killing what is there not to be understood?

500 years of life experience have long allowed him to understand all of this, with the heart that wants to gain immortality.

If someone tries to prevent this pursuit of his, no matter who it is he will kill and live through it. The aspirations in his heart were too big, stepping onto this road was to be making the world your enemy, and it was destined to be alone, destined to kill.

This was the conclusion of 500 years of life.

"Revenge is not my intention, the Demonic path does not compromise." With that he couldn't help but laugh and gave his younger brother a faint glance. "You can leave."

Naruto's heart shook as he felt like his brother's eyes were sharp like an ice blade, seemingly penetrating the deepest parts of his heart.

Under such a gaze, he felt like he was naked in the snow, unable to hold any secrets.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, big brother." Not daring to say anymore, Naruto slowly closed the door and left.

* * *

Bang, Bang, Bang.

The patrolling night watchman banged his wooden clappers in a rhythm.

The sounds spread into the high pillar houses; Yami opened his dry eyelids while his heart silently thought, "Its already the hour before dawn."

He had been lying in bed thinking for a long time last night. He thought up a lot of plans. He probably only slept for a little over two hours. This body has not started cultivating, his energy is not so vigorous and thus his body and mind were still shrouded in exhaustion.

However with 500 years of experience Yami had long build up deep steel-like determination. This sort of sleep-deprived exhaustion is nothing to him.

Immediately he shoved away the thin silk blanket and got up neatly. He opened the window and found that the spring rain had stopped.

The mix of fragrance of the Shinobi World, trees and wild flowers greeted him. Yami felt his head clear, the sleepiness washing away cleanly. Right now the sun had yet risen, the sky still a deep dark blue, not dark yet not bright.

Looking around, the tall houses made of green bamboo and wood contrasting with the mountain, was a sea of pale green colour.

The tall houses had at least two floors; it was the mountain folk's unique structure of a house. Due to the mountain's uneven terrain, the first floor is massive wooden stakes; the second floor is where the people reside. Yami and his brother Naruto stayed at the second floor.

"Young master Yami, you're awake. I will go upstairs and wait for you to wash up." At this moment, a maiden's voice floated up from downstairs.

Looking down, Yami saw his own personal servant – Sakura.

Her looks were only slightly above average, but she dressed up well. Sakura wore a green robe with long sleeves and trousers, had embroidered shoes on her feet and her pink hair had a pearl hairpin. Her body from head to toe radiated youthful vitality.

She looked happily at Yami while carrying a basin of water, and walked upstairs. The water was at the right warm temperature and was used to wash the face. After rinsing his mouth, he used a willow twig with snow salt to clean his teeth.

Sakura waited gently, her face wearing a smile and her eyes lively as spring. After he was done she helped Yami dress, her plump breasts rubbing against his elbow or his back a few times during the process.

Yami's face showed no expression; his heart was calm as water.

This servant girl was nothing but his aunt and uncle's watcheye and was a vain heartless girl. In his previous life she enraptured him, but after the Awakening Ceremony when his status plummeted she quickly turned away her head and gave him countless disdainful looks.

When Naruto came over he was in time to see Sakura smoothing the creases on the clothing of Yami's chest. His eyes had a flicker of jealousy.

These years living together with his older brother, under the care of Yami he also had a servant waiting on him. However his servant was not a youthful girl like Sakura but a fat and wide old woman.

"I wonder which day can Sakura wait on me like this, wonder what it feels like?" Naruto thought inside his heart, yet he did not dare to.

His aunt and uncle's biased love to Yami was no secret to everyone. Originally he did not even have a servant to wait on him. It was Yami who decided to take the initiative and ask for one for Naruto.

Although there was the status difference of master and servant, but usually Naruto did not dare underestimate Sakura. That was because her mother was the Mebuki Haruno who stood beside his aunt and uncle. Mebuki Haruno was the caretaker of the entire household – having full trust of his aunt and uncle, her authority was not small.

"Alright, no need to tidy up." Yami impatiently brushed away Sakura's soft small hands. His clothing had long been tidy; she was just trying to seduce him.

To Sakura and the brightness of her future, Yami's possibility of having an A grade talent was huge. If she could be his concubine she would be able to elevate from servant status into master – it was quite a big step.

In his previous life Yami was deceived by her and had feelings for Sakura. After his rebirth he was clear as a blazing fire, his heart as cold as ice.

"You can leave." Yami did not even look at Sakura as he tidied up his own sleeve cuffs. Sakura pouted slightly, feeling that today Yami's puzzling behavior was rather odd and upsetting. She wanted to reply in a spoiled way but being scared by his cold and confusing nature, her mouth opened and closed a few times before she ended up saying 'yes' and retreating obediently.

"Are you ready?" Yami asked Naruto.

His younger brother stood at the doorway, his head bowed down to look at his toes. He muttered a light 'yes'. Naruto had actually been awake since the fourth watch, too nervous to fall back asleep. He quietly got out of bed and got ready a long time ago, his eyes having black circles.

Yami nodded. In his previous life he was not clear about his younger brother's thoughts, but in this life how could he not understand? But right now it was meaningless to him, and he lightly said, "Then let's go."

So the two brothers left the house. On the way they bumped into many youths of similar age, all in groups of twos and threes, quite clearly heading to the same destination.

"Look guys, those are the Uzumaki brothers." Their ears could pick up the small cautious talk. "The one walking in front is Yami, he's the Yami who created the poems," some of them emphasized.

"So that's him. His face is expressionless as if he had no regard for others, just like the rumors say." Someone said in a sour tone filled with jealousy and envy.

"Hmph, if you were like him then you can also act like that!" Someone coldly replied against the person, hiding a sort of dissatisfaction.

Naruto listened expressionlessly. He had long been accustomed to this kind of discussion. His head low, he followed quietly behind his older brother.

By now the light of dawn had peeked over the horizon, casting Yami's shadow over his face. The sun rose gradually, but Yami suddenly felt like he was walking into darkness.

This darkness was coming from his older brother. Maybe in this life, he would never be able to escape from the imprisoning huge shadow of his brother.

He felt a burst of pressure on his chest making his breathing difficult. This damned feeling was even making him think of the word 'suffocate'!

"Hmph, this talk is a good example of the saying: 'those who of outstanding talent easily bring about jealous from others'," Yami thought with a sneer as he listened to the gossip around.

No wonder when it was announced that he had C grade talent, he would be surrounded by enemies and suffer harsh, disdainful coldness for a long time.

Behind him, Naruto's breathing got dreary and tried to stop listening.

What Yami did not manage to realize in his previous life, he could perceive with the finest detail in this life. This was the ability of keen insight that he had gained from 500 years worth of life experiences.

He suddenly thought of his aunt and uncle and how scheming they were. Giving him Sakura to monitor him and passing his younger brother an old wet nurse, not including other things in life that were different among them. All these actions had intentions – They wanted to cause unhappiness in his younger brother's heart and instigate a rift among the brothers.

People are not worried about whether they receive less; people worry about whether whatever they received is undistributed well.

In his previous life his experiences were too little, while his younger brother was too foolish and too naïve, thus his aunt and uncle successfully instigated a riff among them.

After being reborn with the Awakening Ceremony before him, it seemed like the situation was difficult to change. But with Yami's evil way of means and wisdom, it's not like the situation cannot be changed.

His younger brother can be suppressed entirely, that young Sakura he could turn into a concubine early on. Not forgetting his aunt and uncle and the clan elders – he had at least several hundred ways of beating them.

"But, I don't feel like doing that…" Yami sighed carefreely.

So what if it was his own younger brother? Without the blood relation his younger brother was just an outsider, he could easily give him up anytime.

So what if Sakura grew any prettier? Without love and loyalty she was just a heap of flesh of a body. Keep her as a concubine? She's not worthy.

So what if it was his aunt and uncle, or the clan elders? They're just passers-by in life, why waste effort and energy to beat these people?

Hehe.

As long as you don't get in my way, then you can go aside and scram, I don't need to care about you.

* * *

The sun rises in the sky, the sun ray brilliant. The mountain fog is not very thick; the sharp rays easily pass through.

Over a hundred 15 year-old youths gathered in front of the clan pavilion. The clan pavilion was in the middle of the village, reaching 5 storeys and having sharp tilted roofs; it was heavily guarded. Before the pavilion was the square, and in the pavilion was the shrine of the Konoha ancestor memorial tablets. Every generation of clan head had lived in the pavilion. With every major ceremony or big incident, the clan elders would gather and discuss meetings here as well. This was the entire village's authority central.

"Good, all of you are punctual. Today is the Awakening Ceremony; it is your life's great turning point. I won't say much, just come with me." The one responsible at the moment was the elder of the academy. His beard and hair were white and he was in high spirits as he led the young teenagers into the pavilion. However they did not go up, but were led downstairs after going through the entrance of a great hall. Following down a constructed stone ladder, they went into an underground cave.

The group of youths made surprised and amazed noises. The underground cave was beautiful, stalactites sparkling with the colors of the rainbow. This light shone on the youth's faces, the neon hues gorgeous.

Yami was mixed into the crowd, quietly observing everything that was happening. In his heart, he thought: Hundreds of years ago, the Konoha Clan came to Elemental Mountain and settled down after migrating from the central lands to the South Border. It was when they found a spirit spring in this underground cave. This spirit spring produces a large number of primeval stones – It could be said that this was the foundation of the Konoha Village.

They walked several hundred steps. It got darker and the sounds of water were faintly heard. After turning around a corner, a 3 yards wide underground river greeted them. By now the colorful lights of the stalactites had disappeared completely, yet in the darkness the river emitted faint blue light. It was like a star river of the night sky.

The river flowed from the dark depths of the cave. Inside the crystal clear waters, one could see fish, aquatic plants and even the sand beneath the river. Opposite the river was a sea of flowers.

This was the Konoha Clan's closely cultivated moon orchids. The beautiful blue and pink colored petals were like shaped like a crescent moon; the flower stems were like jade, the center of the flower shining like the sort of warm brilliance that radiates from pearls under the light. At first glance, in the dark background the flower sea looks like a huge piece of land covered in bluish green carpet dotted with countless pearls.

The moon orchid is food for a lot of Gu. This flower sea could be said as the clan's biggest cultivation medium, Yami thought knowingly to himself.

"Wow, so pretty!"

"It really is beautiful!"

The new sight opened the young teenagers' eyes. Each one of them had a light radiating from their gaze with excited and anxious feelings.

"Alright, listen as I call your names. Those who are called must walk through this river to the opposite bank. Walk as far as you can, of course the further you go the better it is. Are you all clear?" The elder said.

"All clear," the youths replied. Actually before they came here, they had all heard their family members or seniors talk about it. It is known that the further you can walk, the better your talent is. Your future will also become brighter.

"Choji." The elder held the name list and called out the first person.

The river was wide but not deep – it covered up to a youth's kneecaps. Choji's face was full of seriousness as he stepped into the flower sea ashore. As he did so, he could feel an invisible pressure as if there was a wall in front of him that he could not see, blocking him from walking forward. During this moment, the flowers at his feet suddenly gave off a weak white light. The light gathered around Choji and entered his body. For a moment Choji felt the pressure drop; the invisible wall blocking him suddenly felt softer. With this, Choji gritted his teeth and mustered his strength, walking forward. He tried to force his way in stiffly, yet after three steps the wall in front of him hardened again back to the state before. Thus he could not walk any further.

As he watched this the elder sighed. While recording what happened, he said, "Choji, 3 steps, no talent to become a Gu Master. Next, Hoki!"

Choji was deathly pale as he walked pass the river back to the youths, clenching his teeth. Without the endowed talent he could live as a normal human, holding the lowest position in the clan.

His stature was shaky; it was a huge blow to him, as if reality had killed all his hopes. Many people threw him pitiful gazes, while even more had fixated stares at the second person crossing the river.

It was a pity that this youth could only walk four steps forward – he did not have talent either.

Not everyone has the natural talent to be a Gu Master. Generally speaking, it is not bad if five out of ten people have talent. In the Gu Clan, this ratio is higher, reaching six people. This is because the Konoha Clan's ancestor – The first generation clan leader was a famous, legendary and powerful man. Due to cultivation reasons his bloodline carried powerful genes, thus the average quality of talent in the Konoha Clan was generally higher as they carried his blood in their veins.

With two consecutive failures, the other elders observing the scene in the dark started making ugly expressions. Even the clan head was frowning slightly. The next moment, the academy elder called out the third name: Kiba Inuzuka.

"Here!" A horse-faced youth dressed in linen robes lightly called as he came forth. He was tall in build, looking much sturdier than his peers. There was a brave aura about him. He crossed the river in a few steps and reached the opposite bank. 10 steps, 20 steps, 30 steps; one after another small lights entered his body. He walked until he reached 36 steps before he could finally go no further.

The youths at the riverbank watched with wide opened eyes, shocked. The academy elder happily exclaimed, "Good, Kiba Inuzuka, B grade talent! Come here, let me see your Primeval sea."

Kiba Inuzuka walked back to the academy elder's side. The latter stretched out his hand and put it on the juvenile's shoulder, closing his eyes as he checked with focus. Then he retracted his hand and nodded, recording down on the paper: Kiba Inuzuka, primeval sea measuring six by six, can be vigorously trained.

This special talent can be measured by four grades – A grade to D grade. A D grade talent youth who is raised for 3 years would be able to become a rank one senior Gu Master, become the foundation of the family. A C grade talent youth after two years of cultivation will usually be able to become a rank two senior Gu Master, becoming the clan's backbone. A B grade talent must be cared for. Often becoming a future clan elder, with 6-7 years of training they will become rank three Gu Masters.

And when it comes to A grade, even if it was just one, would bring great luck to the entire clan. Great care must be given; with this talent in about 10 years they can become a rank four Gu Master. At that moment they would be able to compete for the position of the head of the clan!

In other words, as long as this Kiba Inuzuka grows up, eventually he will become one of the elders of the Konoha Clan. That is why the academy elder laughed happily; the elders watching in the darkness also sighed in relief, then they all turned to look at one of the elders amongst them with jealousy.

This elder was also horse-faced, known as Kiba Inuzuka's grandfather, Gaku Inuzuka. His face was already smiling. He provokingly looked at his old nemesis and said, "What do you think? My grandson isn't bad huh, Shibi Aburame."

Shibi made an annoyed 'hmph', not replying to other. It was apparent that his facial expression was really dark.

One hour later, half of the youths had already walked through the flower sea. There were quite a number of C and D grade talents among them, while half of those youths had no talent at all.

"Sigh, the bloodline is getting thinner. These few years the clan hasn't had any rank four masters to strengthen the bloodline. The fourth generation clan head was the only rank five master, but in the end he perished together with the Flower Wine monk and did not leave behind any descendants. The Konoha Clan's later generation talents are getting weaker and weaker," the clan head said with a deep sigh.

At this moment, the academy elder shouted, "Shino Aburame!"

On hearing this name all the elders looked at Shibi Aburame; this was Shibi Aburame's grandson.

Shibi Aburame had a small and short build with a face full of pockmarks. He was clenching his fist, his entire face sweating. It was evident that he was incredibly nervous.

As he walked onto the opposite bank, the little lights entered his body; after walking straight for 36 steps he stopped.

"Another B grade!" The academy elder yelled.

The youths started a commotion, sending Shino Aburame envious stares.

"Hahaha, 36 steps, 36 steps!" Shibi Aburame shouted, proudly staring at Kiba Inuzuka. This time it was Gaku Inuzuka's turn to have a sour face.

"Shino Aburame, huh…" In the midst of the crowd, Yami stroked his chin thoughtfully. In his memories, the clan heavily punished Shino Aburame because he cheated during the Awakening Ceremony. In reality Shino only had a C grade talent, but because his grandfather Shibi Aburame helped him fake the results, that's why he appeared to have B grade talent.

To be honest if he wanted to cheat, Yami had a countless number of ways to do so, some ways even more perfect than Shino Aburame's method. If a B grade or A grade talent appeared, they would receive the clan's huge care.

But firstly, Yami had only just been reborn. It was hard to prepare the cheating method by this condition. Secondly, even if he managed to cheat, he would not be able to fake his cultivation speed. He would be exposed by then. However Shino Aburame was different; his grandfather was Shibi Aburame – One of the two elders with the most authority within the clan. With this Shibi would be able to cover up for his grandson.

"Shibi Aburame was always hostile towards Gaku Inuzuka, these two elders are the clan's two biggest influential authorities. To suppress his opponent he would need his own grandson to have an outstanding talent. It is also because he was helping from behind, Shino Aburame was able to conceal the truth for a time. In my memories, if it were not for that incident, the truth would never have been exposed."

Yami's eyes shone with light, his mind thinking up ways to use this knowledge to his advantage.

If he exposed the matter on the spot, he would receive a bit of reward from the clan, but then he would offend the highly powerful Shibi Aburame. This was not advisable.

Within such a short time he also could not blackmail them. Due to having low status, it would just backfire on him.

As he pondered, he suddenly heard the academy elder call out his own name: "Yami Uzumaki!"

* * *

In that moment his surroundings went quiet. Countless numbers of eyes were on him.

It's getting more and more exciting, Yami thought to himself with a laugh. Under the gazes of the masses, he walked across the river and reached the opposite bank.

He could feel a layer of pressure on him. This pressure came from the spirit spring deep in the flower sea. The spirit spring produced primeval qi – because the qi was too rich in here, it caused the pressure.

But very quickly from the flowers below Yami's feet, little lights made their way up. These dots of light enveloped his entire body before finally entering him.

These are the Hope Gu, mused Yami. The person in charge did not tell them, but he knew it very clearly. Every spot of light is a Gu, known as the Hope Gu.

One of the oldest legends talk about the Hope Gu. In the legend, when the world was just formed it was a land of savage wilderness. Among the wild beasts that walked the World, the first man appeared. He was known as Genten, eating raw meat and drinking blood, living a difficult life.

In particular was a group of wild beasts called Predicament. These wild beasts loved the taste of Genten and longed to eat him.

Genten did not have a body as strong as mountain rock, nor did he have the sharp teeth and claws of a wild beast. How could he fight with the Predicaments? His source of food was unstable and he had to hide all day. He was at the bottom of nature's food chain, and could barely survive.

At this moment, there were 3 Gu that came up to him and said, "As long as you use your life to provide us, we will help you through this difficulty." Genten had nowhere to go, so he could only agree to these 3 Gu.

He first gave his youth away to the biggest Gu among the three. That Gu then granted him strength.

With strength, Genten's life began to change. He started to have a stable source of food and was able to protect himself. He fought bravely and ruthlessly, defeating many Predicaments. But soon he suffered and finally realized that strength was not everything. It needed to heal and be cultivated, not spent freely at his will. Not to mention when facing the entire group of Predicaments, his strength alone was too small.

Genten reflected over this lesson bitterly and decided to give his prime middle years to the most beautiful Guamong the three. And thus, the second Gu gave him wisdom.

With wisdom, Genten was able to learn how to think and reflect. He began to accumulate experience and found out that many times when he used wisdom, it was more effective than using strength. By relying on wisdom and strength was he able to conquer all the goals that he formerly could not, and killed many Predicaments. He ate the meat of Predicaments and drank the blood of Predicaments, surviving with tenacity.

But good things do not last and Genten was old, and would only grow older and older. This is because he gave away his youth and middle years to keep the strength and wisdom Gu. When a man is old, his muscles deteriorate and his brain slows down.

"Human, what else can you give us? You don't have anything else left to provide to us," the strength and wisdom Gu said as they realized this. They left him.

Without wisdom and strength, Genten was once surrounded by Predicaments. He was old and could not run, his teeth had fallen out and could not even chew wild fruits and plants.

As he fell weakly onto the ground surrounded by Predicaments, his heart was filled with desperation. It was at this time the third Gu said to him, "Human, take me up. I will help you escape Predicament."

Genten tearfully replied, "Gu, I don't have anything else left. See, the strength and wisdom Gu have abandoned me. I only have my old age left! While it is not as worth my youth and middle age, but if I give you my old age, my life would immediately end. Even though I am surrounded by Predicaments right now, but I will not die immediately. I wish to live a little longer, even if just a second more. So you should leave, I have nothing else to provide to you."

But the Gu said, "Among the three I have the smallest needs. Human, if you just give me your heart, it will be enough."

"Then I will give you my heart," Genten said. "But Gu, what can you give me in return? In this situation, even if the strength and wisdom Gu returned to my side, it would change nothing."

When compared to the strength Gu, this Gu looked frail and was just a tiny ball of light. When compared to the wisdom Gu, this one was only able to give out a dim white light, not beautiful in any way.

But when Genten gave it his heart, this Gu suddenly gave out endless light. In this light, the Predicaments screamed in horror: "This is the Hope Gu, withdraw! We Predicaments are most afraid of hope!"

The Predicaments retreated suddenly. Genten was speechless, and from that day onwards whenever he faced predicament, he would give his heart to hope.

At this moment, the Hope Gu converged into a stream of light and had already entered Yami's body. Due to the outside pressure they quickly gathered into his abdomen and collected into a group spontaneously, 3 inches under his navel.

Yami suddenly felt the pressure lessen. He began to walk forward. With every step he took, one after another the Hope Gu would fly out from the sea of flowers and enter his body, joining the ball of light. The ball of light grew brighter and brighter, but the person in charge opposite the riverbank frowned.

"This number of Hope Gu is lesser than expected." Many elders watching Yami in the dark thought this as they saw the sight. The clan head frowned as well. This was definitely not the sign of an A grade talent!

Yami withstood the pressure, continuing to walk forward. "Below 10 steps it means that there is no cultivation talent. 10-20 steps means D grade talent. 20-30 steps would be C grade talent, 30-40 steps is a B grade talent. And 40-50 steps would mean A grade talent. Up till now, I have walked 23 steps."

24, 25, 26… 27.

Yami counted in his heart; when he walked the 27th step he could hear a bang and in between his two kidneys the ball of light reached its limit and suddenly exploded.

This burst of energy only happened inside his body; outsiders cannot see it. Only Yami alone could feel at that moment, an earthshaking reaction. Instantly the fine hairs on his body stood up, his pores shut tight, his mind stretched to a tense limit.

Soon after, his mind went blank, his entire body becoming soft as if he fell into some clouds. His heart relaxed, his fine hairs flattening and his pores re-opened again.

In a short while his entire body was perspiring.

This entire process felt long, but it actually happened in a short time. The feeling went away as fast as it came.

Yami was blanked out for a short moment before he returned to his senses. He secretly focused his attention into his body and found that below his navel and in between his two kidneys, an aperture had formed out of thin air.

The Awakening Ceremony was a success!

This was the hope to immortality!

* * *

The aperture was mysterious and unusual. Although it was located inside Yami's body, it was at the same time, not sharing the same space with his internal organs. You could say that it was endlessly huge, yet at the same time infinitely small.

Some call it the Purple Prefecture, however many know it as the Primeval Sea Aperture. The entire body is spherical and the surface of it is covered in flowing white light, like a thin layer of light coating. It was the layer of light from the Hope Gu that previously exploded.

This thin membrane of light supported the aperture so it would not collapse, and inside the aperture was naturally, the Primeval Sea. The seawaters were smooth like a mirror, showing a greenish blue color, yet the water was dense and brought about a copper luster. Only Rank one Gu Masters can form this green coppery primeval essence, known as the green copper sea.

The height of the sea surface was not up to half of the aperture – it was only up to 44%. This was also the limitation of a C grade talent. Every drop of seawater was pure primeval essence, representing the condensation of Yami's essence, vitality and soul. It was also the accumulation of his life potential over the past 15 years.

This primeval essence is used by Gu Masters to raise Gu. This also means that from now onwards, Yami has formally entered the route of a Rank one Gu Master. Since the aperture had opened, no more Hope Gu entered Yami's body.

Yami gathered himself and felt that the pressure before him was as thick as a wall; he could no longer walk another step forward. "Just like my previous life," he smiled indifferently at this result.

"You can't go any further?" The academy elder shouted across the river, holding onto a small thread of hope. Yami turned around and walked back, answering with his actions.

At this moment even the young teenagers started reacting. The crowd suddenly buzzed with chatter.

"What? Yami walked 27 steps?"

"So he was just a C grade talent?!"

"Unbelievable, only a C grade for such a genius like him?"

A great disturbance erupted from the crowd.

"Big brother…" Among them, Naruto looked up, watching with shock as Yami returned across the river. He could not dare to believe it, his own brother was only a C grade?

He had always thought that his older brother would be an A grade talent. No, not just him, even his aunt and uncle and so many people among the clan thought the same too.

But now, the result was unexpectedly the opposite!

"Damn, he was only a C grade!" The Konoha Clan head clenched both his fists, drawing a deep breath, disappointment in his voice.

The elders watching from the darkness had mixed reactions. Some were frowning, some lowering their head in discussion, some looking up with a sigh.

"Could the results be wrong?"

"How can that be? This method is accurate beyond reasoning, not to add that we were watching the entire time, even cheating is hard."

"But all his actions and intelligence previously, how do you explain those?"

"Youths with higher quality of primeval sea would indeed display characteristics that surpass the ordinary man. Such as intelligence, perception, memory, strength, agility and so on. On the other hand, these characteristics do not mean that the primeval talent is definitely high. Everything will still be determined by the results."

"Sigh, the bigger your hopes the bigger the disappointment. The Konoha Clan's generation now is no longer like the first generation."

—

His socks were soaked with the icy cold waters from the river, the coldness piercing into his bones.

Yami walked with the same emotionless face, his distance getting closer and closer towards the crowd. He could clearly see the academy elder's heavy expression, and was aware of the stares thrown at him from over a hundred youths.

These glares were mixed with amazement, shock, sneering, and some taking pleasure at this unfortunate event, some indifferent.

It was the same situation, making Yami unwillingly remember his previous life.

During that time he felt as if the sky had fallen. When he crossed the cold river he lost his footing and fell, soaking his entire body in the water, feeling so lost. No one came forward to help him up.

Those disappointed, cold expressions and gazes were like sharp knives, piercing into his very own heart. His mind was in chaos, his chest searing with pain. It was as if he had fallen from the clouds, down to the ground. The higher you stand, the harder you fall.

But in this life, as the same scene replayed itself, Yami's heart was calm. He thought of the legend: When Predicaments come, give your heart to Hope.

And today that hope is inside of him. Even though it was not big, but it was better than those people who had totally no primeval talent.

If others feel disappointed, then let them be disappointed. What else can they do?

What does other people's disappointments have to do with me? The most important thing is to carry hope inside my heart!

500 years of living had led him to understand that the interesting things that happen in a person's life, happens during the process when one chases after his own dreams. There is no need to ask others around you to not be disappointed or make them like it.

Walk on your own path, let others be disappointed and unhappy however they please!

"Sigh…" The academy elder let out a deep breath and shouted, "Next, Naruto!"

But no answer came.

" Naruto!" The elder yelled again, the sound of his voice reverberating inside the cave.

"Ah? I'm here, I'm here!" Naruto snapped out of his shock and ran out hurriedly. Unfortunately he tripped over his own foot and fell, hitting his head with a groan and tumbled into the river.

Instantly the entire cave was filled with huge laughter.

"The Uzumaki brothers, nothing special." The Konoha Clan head scoffed, feeling a sort of annoyed boredom towards Naruto.

"This is such a huge embarrassment!" Naruto struggled and splashed in the water. The bottom of the river was just too slippery; he couldn't get up properly. Trying his best only made him look more stupid and clumsy. His heart increasingly flustered as the sounds of laughter filled his ears.

But right at this moment, he suddenly felt a strong pull lifting him up. His head finally left the water surface and his body found balance again.

He wiped his face in a panic and focused his sight. It was actually his older brother Yami who had grasped his collar and pulled him up.

"Big brother…" He opened his mouth to say. But instead he started choking on water, ending up triggering a violent cough.

"Haha, the difficult older and younger brother of the Uzumaki family!" Someone laughed at the riverbank. The laugher grew louder, yet the academy elder did not come out and stop it. He was deeply frowning, disappointment filling his heart.

Naruto was completely at a loss on what to do, and then he heard his brother say to him, "Go on. The road to the future will be interesting."

Naruto could not help but open his mouth in surprise. Yami's back was facing the crowd so they could not see properly, but Naruto could clearly feel the calmness radiating from Yami. As his older brother spoke the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, revealing a deep and thoughtful smile.

It was obviously only a C grade talent, yet how can big brother be so calm? Naruto could not help but wonder, his heart full of doubt. Yet Yami did not say any more. He patted Naruto on the back, and turned and walked away.

Naruto wore a stupefied expression as he walked towards the flower sea. "I never thought big brother would actually be so calm. If it was me, I'd…"

He lowered his head, walking forward absent-mindedly. Yet he did not know that he was playing out a miraculous scene. When he finally snapped out of his reverie, he was already deep in the sea of flowers, standing in a distance that no one else had reached before him.

43 steps!

"Oh my god, A grade talent!" The academy elder screamed, seeming to have lost his mind.

"A grade, really an A grade!?"

"It's been 3 years, an A grade talented genius has finally appeared in the Konoha Clan!"

The clan elders that were watching in the darkness were also screaming out at the same time, losing their composures.

"Well, the Uzumaki bloodline originated from us Aburame bloodline. So we the Aburame family will adopt this Naruto," Shibi immediately announced.

"How is that possible? You old bag Shibi, your morals and abilities are out of order, but you're definitely good at misleading young boys. It's better to pass this kid to I, Gaku Inuzuka to raise!" Gaku Inuzuka roared back instantly.

"Stop arguing. No one is more qualified to raise this child than the current clan leader. Whoever has any objections is to go against me, Hiruzen Sarutobi!" The Konoha Clan head had gone crazy and swept his fiery red gaze over the disappointed and discouraged looks.


	2. A True Hero Isn't Swayed By Mere Beauty

**A True Hero Isn't Swayed By Mere Beauty**

Soon a week passed.

"Humans are above all creatures, Gu are the essence of heaven and earth. In this world there are thousands of species, countless number of Gu. They live everywhere around us – In the soil, in the bushes, even on the bodies of wild beasts."

"As humans continue to propagate and grow, the scholars of the past gradually uncovered the mysteries of the Gu. Those who have opened the aperture, using their own primeval essence to feed, refine and manipulate these Gu – people who have achieved these various purposes are what we call Gu Masters."

"And all of you have successfully opened your aperture in the Awakening Ceremony 7 days ago. With the coagulation of the primeval sea, right now you are all Rank one Gu Masters."

In the village academy, the academy elder talked with confidence and composure. In front of him were 57 students, seated and listening attentively.

The mystery and strength of a Gu Master had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the youths a long time ago. Thus everything that the elder taught and said, the students were very interested in.

At this moment a young teen raised his hand. With the elder's permission he stood up and asked, "Elder sir, I've known this since I was small. There are Rank one Gu Masters, Rank two and so on, can you explain in more detail to us?"

The Konoha teacher nodded and waved his hand to ask the young man to sit down. "Gu Masters have 9 ranks, from bottom to the top – Rank one, Rank two, Rank three all the way up to Rank nine. Every rank is considered a big realm, and it is divided into 4 small realms – initial stage, middle stage, upper stage and peak stage. You have all just become Gu Masters, so all of you are Rank one initial stage."

"If you all work hard in your cultivation, your cultivation base will naturally advance to rank two, even rank three. Of course, the higher your talent the bigger your chance of promoting."

"For D grade talent, the primeval sea takes up about 2-3 layers of the aperture, the highest promotion reachable is Rank one to Rank two. For C grade talent, the primeval sea is 4-5 layers of the aperture. Usually the progress stops at Rank two, but with luck a small percentage of people can advance to Rank 3 initial stage. B grade talents have a primeval sea that takes up 6-7 layers of the aperture, they are able to cultivate to Rank 3, even as far as Rank 4. As for A grade talent, the primeval sea is plenty; it takes up 8-9 layers of the aperture. This kind of talent in a person is naturally the most gifted and the most suitable for a Gu Master's cultivation, being able to reach Rank 5."

"As for Gu Masters who are Rank 6 and above, they are all legends. I am not clear about the specifics either. In the Konoha clan, there has never been the appearance of a Rank 6 Gu Master, but Rank 4 and Rank 5 Gu Masters we have had before."

The teenagers' ears all pricked up, their eyes shining brightly as they listened.

Many of them couldn't help but look at Naruto who was sitting rigidly at the first row. He was an A grade talent after all. Their eyes were filled with feelings of envy and jealousy. At the same time there were some who stared at the corner at the last row of the classroom.

Leaning against the window at the corner was Yami, who was bent over the desk sleeping soundly.

"Look, he's still sleeping," someone whispered.

"He's been sleeping continuously for a week, yet he's still not awake?" Someone cut in.

"There's more. I heard that he was up all night, wandering about at the edge of the village."

"There's been people who've seen it more than once, apparently he holds a wine-jar at night, dead drunk outside. Luckily these few years the village surroundings have been cleared clean, so it's safer." The fellow schoolmates whisper here and there, letting all kinds of small gossip spreading around quickly.

"Ah well, the blow was just too big. Someone hailed as a genius for so many years unexpectedly ending up to be a C-grade talent in the end, hehe."

"If only it was just the case. Of all the people his own little brother was pronounced an A grade, right now being the center of attention, enjoying the best treatment. The younger brother soars up to the sky, while the older brother falls to the ground, tut tut…"

As the discussion amongst the students got louder and louder, the academy elder's brow deepened into a frown. In the whole classroom all the teenagers were sitting respectfully, showing liveliness. This made Yami who was sleeping on his table stand out so much that it hurt the eyes.

"It's already been a week, yet he's still so dispirited. Hmph, initially I must have been mistaken by him, how could someone like this be a genius!" The elder thought disgruntledly. He had spoken many times to Yami regarding this matter, but to no effect – Yami still did whatever he liked. He would sleep through every class, making the elder in charge of teaching have a very frustrated headache.

"Forget it, he's just a C grade. If he can't even withstand this sort of blow, fostering him with that kind of temperament will just end up wasting the clan's resources, nothing good will come out of it." The elder's heart was filled with disappointment towards Yami.

Yami was just a C grade, compared to his younger brother Naruto who was an A grade talent, now this was someone worth the clan spending an amount of effort on raising!

While the academy elder thought about all this, he was also replying to the latest question. "In the clan history, there has been many strong masters. For Rank five masters there were two. One of them is the first generation clan head, our ancestor. He was the one who established Konoha Village. Another one was the fourth clan head. He had remarkable talent, and managed to cultivate all the way to the realm of a Rank five Gu Master. If it wasn't for that despicable shameless demon Flower Wine Monk's sneak attack, he might have been able to achieve Rank six, but who knows…"

As he said this he heaved a deep sigh. Below the platform, the youths starting shouting in a rage.

"It's all because of that Flower Wine Monk, he was too sinister and cunning!"

"What a pity that our fourth clan leader was softhearted and benevolent, and died at a young age."

"If only I was born a few hundred years earlier! If I saw that demon I would have torn off his ugly face."

The fourth clan head and the Flower Wine Monk's story is something that the entire Konoha clan knows.

The Flower Wine Monk was also a Rank five Gu Master, famous among the Demon faction in his time for his many years as a big flower thief. A few hundred years ago he travelled to Elemental Mountain. He attempted to commit crimes in Konoha Village, but was found out by the fourth generation clan leader in the end. After a earthshakingly huge battle, the Flower Wine monk was beaten to the point he had to beg for mercy on his knees. The fourth clan head was merciful and kind, intending to spare his life. Yet the Flower Wink Monk suddenly launched a sneak attack, successfully inflicting heavy wounds on the fourth clan head. The clan head flew into a rage, killing the Flower Wine Monk on the spot. However his heavy injuries were not curable and thus, he died.

Therefore in the hearts of the Konoha clansmen, the fourth generation clan head was a great hero who sacrificed his life for the village.

"Flower Wine Monk huh…" Awoken by the classroom's noisy chatter, Yami opened his sleepy eyes.

He stretched his body and thought with resentment in his heart, this Flower Wine Monk, where did he die? Why is it that I still can't find his legacy after searching around the entire village?

In his memories, there was a Gu Master from the clan who was brokenhearted and started drinking a lot. About two months later from now, the man was heavily drunk as he lay down outside the village. His heavy wine aroma unknowingly attracted a Liquor worm.

The Gu Master was ecstatic, fully intent on catching it. The Liquor worm hurriedly fled, and as the Gu Master was in hot pursuit after it, he followed the Liquor worm's trail and discovered an underground hole entrance and went in.

The Liquor worm was a very precious and expensive type of Gu. The half drunk Gu Master decided to risk it and enter the hole, finding himself in a secret underground cave. After that he discovered the bones of the Flower Wine Monk and the inheritance he left behind.

When the Gu Master returned to the village, he reported his discoveries and immediately caused a big stir among the entire clan. Later on that Gu Master benefitted much from it, his cultivation base suddenly becoming outstanding. His lover who had once abandoned him before was attracted to him again, and he became the talk of the clan for a while.

"Sadly I only heard bits and pieces about this piece of news, so I don't know where the accurate location is. It wasn't like I knew I would be reborn again to this day. Flower Wine Monk, where in the world did you die off to?"

These few days he had been buying a lot of wine, wandering around the village as soon as night arrived. He wanted to use the aroma of liquor to attract the Liquor worm. Unfortunately he never saw the Liquor worm appear, making him feel very disappointed.

"If I could find that Liquor worm and refine it into my vital Gu, that would be so much better than the clan's Moonlight Gu. In the blink of an eye its already April, there's not much time left." Yami heaved a sigh and gazed out of the window.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, verdant mountains stretched into the distance. In the vicinity was a bamboo grove. This was Elemental Mountain's unique spear bamboo, each bamboo stick as straight as a line, the ends of the bamboo exceptionally sharp like the tip of a spear.

Not too far away, the woods were already turning green. The tender shoots sprouted in a sea of yellow green color. Every now and then, beautiful and colorful sparrows would perch on the branches. The wind of spring blew, wrapping up the freshness of the mountains and rivers, and dispersing it into the world.

Without knowing it, the class was almost over. The academy elder finally informed, "This week I have taught you all how to contemplate and check your own aperture's primeval sea, and how to meditate and shift around the primeval essence inside your body. Now is the time for you all to refine your vital Gu. After this class ends, you will all go to the academy's Gu room and pick a Gu worm. After choosing your Gu, please go home and focus on refining it. When you have finally refined your Gu, then you can come back to the academy and continue attending class. At the same time, this is your first assessment. Whoever can finish this assessment first will be rewarded a generous sum of 20 primeval stones."

* * *

Beside the academy was a Gu room. The Gu room was not big; it was only 60 meters in size.

In a Gu Master's road to cultivation, a Gu is the key to strength.

At the end of class, the excited teenagers rushed towards the Gu room.

"Form a line, enter one by one," some voices suddenly yelled; it was natural that there were guards outside the Gu room. The youths went in one at a time and came out. Finally it was Yami's turn to enter the Gu room.

This room was a mysterious room. The four walls all had holes; in each one of these embedded square holes were another square hole. Each of the holes differed in size, some big and some small. The bigger ones were no bigger than a an earthenware cooking pot, the smaller holes no smaller than a fist.

In the many square holes were all kinds of containers – there were grey stone basins, verdant jade dishes, exquisite grass cages, earthen stoves etc. These containers kept in all kinds of variety of Gu.

Some Gu were silent, while some Gu made a lot of noises, creating chirping, clucking, rustling sounds and so on. All these noises combined together to create a sort of life symphony.

"Gu are also divided into 9 big levels, following the same concept of the 9 rank realms of Gu Masters. All the Gu in this room are Rank one Gu." Yami glanced around, immediately aware of this.

Generally speaking, Rank one Gu Masters can only use Rank one Gu. If they used higher level Gu, these masters would need to pay an extremely heavy price. In addition, Gu need to be fed. The high cost of feeding higher level Gu was often not something lower ranked Gu Masters could afford. Thus to Gu Masters who were newcomers, they would always pick a Rank one Gu worm as their first refined Gu unless under a special situation.

There is great significance to the first Gu that a Gu Master refines – It will become their vital Gu, interconnecting their lives together. If it dies, the Gu master will suffer a huge blow.

"Alas, my original wish was to get my hands on the Flower Wine Monk's Liquor worm and refine it as my vital Gu. But right now there are still no leads on my search for the Flower Wine Monk's skeleton. I don't even know when will I be able to find it, or when someone else does. Just to be safe I'll pick a Moonlight Gu first." Yami sighed inwardly as he walked straight along the wall on his left.

One of the top layers of the holes in this wall had a row of silver plates. In every plate was a Gu.

These Gu were crystalline and shaped like a crescent; it was like a piece of blue quartz. Against the backdrop of the silver dish, the Gu gave off a quiet and beautiful feeling.

Known as the Moonlight Gu, this variety of Gu was the local Gu of the Konoha clan and many of the clansmen would choose the Moonlight Gu as their vital Gu. The Moonlight Gu was not a Gu of nature; it was a breed that was cultivated with a secret method by the Konoha clan. The Moonlight Gu could not be found anywhere else; it could be said that this Gu was a symbol of the Konoha clan.

Since it was all Rank one Moonlight Gu, there was very little difference among one another. Yami casually chose one and took it. The Moonlight Gu was very light, comparable to the weight of a piece of paper. The insect occupied a small area of his palm; it was roughly the size of a common jade pendant. As Yami put it on his hand, he could see through it and gaze at the lines on his palm.

With one last look and finding nothing wrong with it, Yami put the Moonlight Gu into his pocket and walked out of the Gu room. Outside the Gu room, the queue was still quite long. As soon as the next person in line saw Yami leave, he went into the room hurriedly with excitement.

If it were others, when they got their Gu the first thing they would do, would be to take it home and quickly refine it. But Yami was not in a hurry to do so, for his mind was still thinking about the Liquor worm.

The Liquor Worm was more precious compared to the Moonlight Gu, although the Moonlight Gu was a specialty of the Konoha Village, it did not help a Gu Master as much as a Liquor Worm.

After he left the Gu room, Yami headed straight for the tavern.

"Shopkeeper, two jars of aged wine!" Yami fished around his pockets and drew out the remaining primeval stone pieces, putting them onto the counter.

These few days he would come here and buy wine, then go around the village border and scout, intending to attract the Liquor worm so it would appear. The shopkeeper was a short and fat middle-aged man, his face oily. After these few days he had already remembered Yami.

"Sir, you've come." While he greeted Yami, he stretched out a thick and short chubby hand and skillfully swiped away the primeval stone pieces. As he put them onto his palm he shifted his hand up and down and felt that the weight was correct. With this the shopkeeper's smile deepened.

Primeval stones were the currency used in this world, used to measure the value of all commodities. At the same time it was also a condensed matter of the world's essence, usable on oneself, and is important in helping a Gu Master in his cultivation.

"Two jars of wine everyday, and it has been 7 full days already. The initial savings I had are already almost all spent," Yami frowned slightly as he walked out of the tavern with two jars of wine.

Once someone becomes a Gu Master, he would be able to extract primeval essence straight from a primeval stone to replenish the primeval sea in his aperture. Thus to Gu Masters, primeval stones were not just a form of currency, but also a supplement in their cultivation. With sufficient primeval stones, the rate of cultivation will increase greatly; this can make up for the disadvantages of those with lower talent grade.

"I won't have primeval stones to buy wine anymore tomorrow, yet the Liquor worm just doesn't want to appear. Do I really have to take the Moonlight Gu and refine it as my vital Gu?" Yami felt rather unsatisfied.

As he walked with the two jars of wine in his hand, he started to wonder. "Academy elder said, the first person who manages to refine his vital Gu will get a reward of 20 primeval stones. Right now I guess a lot of them are at home trying their best to refine their Gu and compete for the first position. A pity, refining the vital Gu is more of a test of one's talent. Those with better primeval talent will have better advantage. With my C grade talent, without any special means I have totally no chance of winning."

It was at this moment, the voice of Naruto called out to him from behind. "Big brother, you really did go to the tavern and buy alcohol! Follow me, aunt and uncle want to see you."

Yami stopped in his tracks and turned around. He found his younger brother was no longer like before, always lowering his head as he spoke. Right now the two brothers gazed at each other face to face.

A gust of wind blew, lifting up the older brother's messy short hair, the lower hem of the younger brother's robes swishing around.

Just a short period of one month has gone by, yet humans change.

A week after the Awakening Ceremony, a huge change came upon the older brother and the younger brother. The older brother Yami fell from the clouds, the title of genius mercilessly destroyed. And the younger brother began to bloom with radiance, slowly rising up like a new star.

To the younger brother Naruto, this sort of change was earthshaking to his world. He finally tasted the feelings that his older brother used to have – the feelings of people pinning their hopes on him, the feelings when people use envious and jealous looks to gaze at him. He felt like he was suddenly dragged out from a dark corner and placed into a heaven filled with light. Everyday when he woke up, he felt like he was having a very sweet dream. The difference of how he was being treated from before and now was like day and night, making him somewhat unable to believe his reality even until now, but at the same time also strongly unaccustomed to it.

It was hard to adapt.

In a short while from being unknown to someone who was closely watched, people pointing at him all the time. Sometimes when Naruto walked on the road, he would hear people around him talking about himself, voices praising him. His face would heat up and he would feel completely at a loss of what to do, his eyes trying to avoid gazes, he even almost forgot how to walk properly!

The first ten days or so, Naruto became thinner yet his energy became more vigorous. From the inner depths of his heart, something called 'self-confidence' began to manifest.

"This is what big brother had always been feeling before, how beautiful and painful at the same time!"

He could not stop thinking about his older brother Yami; facing such attention and discussion, how did his older brother deal with it?

He subconsciously started to imitate Yami, pretending to look expressionless all the time, but quickly found that he was not fit for this kind of style. Sometimes during class, a girl's shout could easily send him red-faced. On the roads, all the flirting from older women even caused him to flee in a hurry many times.

He was like a toddler learning how to walk, stumbling and falling as he tried to get used to his new life. During this entire process, he was unable to avoid hearing about his older brother – falling into depression, becoming a drunkard, not going home at night, sleeping soundly in class.

He felt very shocked at this. His own older brother, once a strong entity and hailed as a being of great genius, suddenly becoming like this?!

But slowly he started to sort of understand. His big brother was also a normal man after all. Encountering this kind of setback and huge blow would send anyone into depression. Along with this understanding, Naruto secretly felt an indescribable happiness inside. This feeling was something he was terribly unwilling to admit, but yet it definitely existed.

His older brother who was hailed as a genius and always covering him in shadow, acting so depressed and dispirited right now. From a reverse angle, it was a testimony to his own growth, wasn't it?

He was the outstanding one, this was the real truth!

Hence when he saw Yami holding the wine jars, his hair messy and clothes untidy, Naruto felt relieved, his breathing also becoming a lot easier. But yet he said, "Big brother, you have to stop drinking, you cannot go on like this! You have no idea how worried the people who care about you are, you need to wake up!"

Yami was emotionless; he did not say anything. The two brothers gazed at each other.

Younger brother Naruto's eyes were shining, giving off a sharp and keen feel. And the older brother Yami's two orbs were a deep black, faintly resembling a deep ancient pool. These eyes could not help but make Naruto feel a strange oppression. Not long after he subconsciously turned away his gaze and looked somewhere else.

But when he realized it, he felt a sudden rise of anger. It was an anger that was directed at himself.

What's wrong with you? Can't even muster the courage to look directly at your big brother?

I've changed, I've completely changed!

With these thoughts his eyes shifted back their sharpness and he shot his gaze at his brother again. But Yami was already not looking at him. Holding a jar of wine in each hand, he walked past Naruto and said in a dull voice, "What else are you gawking at? Let's go."

Naruto's breathing became disoriented, the strength that had accumulated inside his heart no longer able to be released. This made him experience a depression that was hard to describe.

Seeing that his older brother had walked far ahead, he could only quicken his pace to catch up. But this time his head was no longer lowered, but rose to meet the sun. His gaze was fixed on his own feet that was stepping on his older brother Yami's shadow.

* * *

The sunset was a red hue setting over the east.

The sky was still bright, but everything seemed to be covered by a shade of gray. Overlooking the window, the mountains in the distance were gradually drawing towards a heavy black color.

The light in the living room was dim. Aunt and Uncle sat high in their chairs, their faces enveloped in shadow, their expressions hard to discern.

As he saw Yami carrying the two jars of wine, his Uncle Mizuki's eyebrows twisted into a knot. He opened his mouth and spoke, "In the blink of an eye, you are both 15 years old now. Since you both have the talents of a Gu Master, especially Naruto, your aunt and I are proud of the both of you. I will give you both 6 pieces of primeval stones, take it. Refining your Gu consumes a lot of primeval essence, so you'll need these primeval stones."

As he said this, some servants came over and passed Yami and Naruto each a small bag.

Yami took his bag silently.

Naruto immediately opened his bag and looked inside to see 6 pieces of oval shaped, greyish white primeval stones. His face lit up with gratitude at once and he stood up from his seat, facing his aunt and uncle. "Thank you Aunt and Uncle, your nephew does need primeval stones to replenish my primeval essence! You have both raised me until today, this gratitude is engraved into my heart, I shall not forget it forever!"

Uncle smiled and nodded. Aunt hurriedly waved her hands and said warmly, "Sit down, sit down! Although you both are not our children directly, we have always raised you as our own. You both are able to gain a future, and we are proud of that. Alas we do not have children of our own, and sometimes we thought that if you both could really become our children it would be the best."

Her words brought deep meaning. Naruto did not understand it, but Yami frowned a little.

Uncle cut in and said, "I have discussed this with your aunt. We thought of adopting you both and become a genuine, real family. Naruto, I wonder if you are willing?"

Naruto was stunned for a second, but the look on his face quickly emerged a joyful smile and he said, "To be honest, every since both my parents died I have longed very much for a family of my own. To be able to become a family with Aunt and Uncle, this is too good to be true!"

Aunt's expression loosened and she laughed, "Then you are our good son, shouldn't you stop calling us Aunt and Uncle?"

"Father, mother." Naruto in a state of realization changed his statement.

Aunt and Uncle laughed heartily. "What a good son, not a waste of us husband and wife to raise you since you were five years old. And we have raised you for ten whole years," Aunt wiped her tears.

Uncle looked at the silent Yami and said gently, "Yami, how about you?"

Yami shook his head without saying a word.

"Big brother." Naruto was about to advise him, but Uncle, whose tone was unchanged, stopped him. "If that's the case, Yami my nephew, we won't force you. Since you are already 15 years old, you need to start being independent, this way you will also easily carry on your Uzumaki bloodline. Uncle here has prepared 200 primeval stones for you as financial support."

"200 primeval stones!" Naruto's eyes opened wide; he had never seen so many primeval stones in his life. He couldn't help but reveal a jealous expression.

But Yami still shook his head.

Naruto was puzzled, while Uncle's expression changed slightly. Aunt's face had also turned cloudy.

"Aunt and Uncle. If there is nothing else, then your nephew will take his leave," Yami did not give them any chance to speak again. After he finished his sentence he took his wine jars and left the hall immediately.

Naruto rose from his seat and said, "Father, Mother. Big brother is not thinking straight, how about you let me advise him?"

Uncle waved his hand and deliberately sighed, "Alas this matter cannot be forced. Since you have the heart, as your father I am already very content. Servants, take care of young master Naruto treat him well. "

"Then your son will take his leave," Naruto retreated, and the living room fell into silence.

The sun set below the mountain, and the living room became darker. In a while from the darkness Uncle's cold voice emerged. "Looks like this brat Yami has seen through our plot."

Among the regulations of the Konoha clan it was clearly stipulated that the eldest son at 16 years of age would have the qualifications to inherit the family property. Yami's parents had passed away, leaving behind a fortune. It was being 'taken care' of by Aunt and Uncle. This inheritance was not something a measly sum of 200 essence stones could compare to. If Yami had also agreed to be adopted by Aunt and Uncle, then he would lose the right to inherit this fortune. If Yami at this year's age of 15 decided to be independent, he would also not conform to the clan's regulations.

"Luckily we managed to win over Naruto, and Yami only has C grade talent," Uncle heaved a sigh, feeling joyful.

"Then husband, if Yami decides to go independent at 16 years of age, what do we do?" Aunt's tone was hysterical as she thought about the inheritance.

"Hmph, since he is acting undisciplined, then he can't blame us. As long as we catch him committing a huge mistake before he leaves us and expel him from our family, it will be counted as snatching away his right to inherit the legacy," Uncle explained coldly.

"But the brat is very clever, how would he make a mistake?" Aunt asked, puzzled.

Uncle rolled his eyes immediately and whispered angrily, "You are really stupid! If he won't make a mistake, can't we frame him instead? Just let Sakura seduce Yami and scream assault, we catch him on the spot, fabricate a story about him acting wild while he was drunk. Surely we can expel Yami?"

"Husband you really have a way, what an ingenious plan!" Aunt was overjoyed at that moment.

The thick colors of the night covered the sky, and the stars that blanketed the sky were mostly covered away by floating dark clouds. Each of the households in the village gradually lit up with lights.

Naruto was ushered into a room.

"Young master Naruto, the old master personally had me tidy up this room specially for you," Mebuki Haruno said with a hospitable tone. She bowed her waist, her face having a flattering smile.

Naruto looked around with a glance, his eyes shining. This room was at least bigger by two times compared to his previous room. The middle of the room was a spacious bed; beside the window was a rosewood desk with a delicate set of ink and paper. The walls were decorated with exquisite ornaments, and beneath his feet was not an ordinary floor, but covered in a layer of soft handmade carpet.

From his childhood until now, Naruto had never stayed in such a room. He immediately nodded his head continuously and said, "This is very good, it really isn't bad, thank you Mebuki Haruno."

Mebuki Haruno was Aunt and Uncle's most highly valued person; she was in charge of all the slaves in the house and was a housekeeper who lived up to her reputation. The girl Sakura who served Yami was her daughter.

Mebuki Haruno laughed, "I am not deserving of young master's gratitude, it is my duty, my duty! Young master, do not hesitate to eat well and sleep well. Whatever you want, just shake the bell beside your bed, somebody will attend to you immediately. Old master has already instructed us, so in these few days please do put all your attention on cultivating, young master. Just leave all the other chores to us."

Naruto felt a gush of gratitude in his heart. He did not say anything, but deep down inside he decided, this time I must get number one and not let Aunt and Uncle down!

The dark clouds in the sky were getting heavier, and the night was getting darker. In the night sky most of the stars were covered away by the clouds, leaving a few shining with faint light, blinking away in the sky.

"Aunt and Uncle must be plotting on how to expel me from the house right now. In my previous life they secretly instigated the servants to provoke me, and then framed me. Then they expelled me from the family; I wonder if there will be any changes in this life." Yami sneered in his heart as he walked along the streets.

He had long seen clearly the true colors of his Aunt and Uncle. But he could also understand it.

Men would throw away their lives in pursuit for wealth. No matter whether on Earth or in this world, there would always be many people who would be willing to trample over kinship, friendship and love for their own self-interests and benefits.

In fact kinship did not exist. In the beginning when Aunt and Uncle took in Yami and Naruto, their only purpose was to seek the heritage. It was just so that the two brothers were repeatedly unexpected.

"All things are difficult before they are easy. To me this is more so of the case. Firstly I do not have outstanding talent; secondly I do not have the care of a teacher. It is equivalent to raising a family from nothing, but with my parent's legacy it can be said to be a huge advantage for me. In my previous life Aunt and Uncle stole away the heritage, and because of that I had to waste two full years to be able to cultivate to Rank One peak stage. In this life I cannot afford to make the same mistake."

Yami pondered in his mind as he walked.

Instead of staying home, he held the two jars of wine and walked towards the outskirts of the village.

The night deepened and the dark clouds obscured the star light, the mountain breeze blew, growing stronger gradually.

The mountain rain was coming. But he still had to search; to get a hold of his parent's inheritance, he would need to wait until he was sixteen. And the Flower Wine Monk's treasure was the only thing that he could get his hands on in the short run.

There were not many people on the streets. The houses along the road showed a dim light. Some small rubbish and leaves were blown away by the wind, drifting about.

Yami's thin clothing could not stop the mountain wind, and he could not help but feel a cold chill. He simply opened the wine jar, drinking a small mouthful of wine. Although it was turbid wine, but after swallowing it he felt a warm feeling rising up.

This was the first time that he actually drank wine in these few days.

The further he walked out of the village, the lesser the houses beside the road, and the dimmer the lights became. In front of him it was even darker. The wind blew heavily against the mountain forest, the branches swaying in the night, making a whistling noise that sounded like a herd of beasts roaring.

Yami's pace did not slow down. He walked out of the huge entrance of the village and out into the darkness, going further as he walked. And behind him were the bright and brilliant lights of tens of thousands of houses. In these lights there was a warm corner.

The younger brother Naruto was seated at his desk, reviewing the notes that he had taken down during class. The lights in the house were shining brightly, the and solid wall blocked away the cold winds. Beside his hand was a cup of warm ginseng tea, the steam rising up from the cup.

"Young master Naruto, the hot bathing water has been prepared for you."

Outside the door, Sakura's voice softly floated through.

Naruto's heart jolted. "Then bring it in please."

Sakura walked into the room with her waist bowed, her expression pleased.

"Your servant greets young master." Her eyes sent amorous glances at Naruto. Yami was only a C grade talent, but Naruto was an A grade talent! To be able to get a hold of him, is truly the biggest fortune!

* * *

Pitter patter…

Big, heavy raindrops fell to the earth, battering the roof of the verdant bamboo house, making brittle sounds.

The surface of the pond in front of the building was full of ripples as the rain fell, the fish in the water swimming lively around, the aquatic plants swaying about at the bottom of the pond. The sky was overcast; a thick rain curtain obscured the field of vision as far as the eye could see.

In the somewhat dim room the window was open, and Yami quietly watched the heavy rainfall, sighing.

"It has already been 3 days and 3 nights."

On the night 3 days ago he had walked out of the village with two jars of wine, searching around the surroundings. But when it was late into the night it started pouring rain. Put aside him being drenched to the bones, the main point was that in the situation he could not go about searching anymore.

The rainwater would quickly wash away the wine fragrance. At the same time if he forced himself to search under such conditions, it might arouse suspicions. Although previously he pretended to become a depressed drunken person to cover up his real motives, but he knew never to underestimate the intelligence of others around him. Only a fool would think others were stupid.

Thus under this helplessness, Yami could only stop his search.

Not too mention that the moment it started raining, the rain had went on continuously. Sometimes it became heavier and sometimes lighter, but it never stopped.

"I guess in this way, I won't be able to find the Liquor worm for a short period of time. To be safe I can only choose to start refining the Moonlight Gu. While I refine it, if I can find the Liquor worm during the process it would be the best, but if I can't then this would have to do. But this matter is very common; a storm may arise from a clear sky, something unexpected may happen anytime. In this world who can do everything without obstacles in his way, having a perfect journey?"

Yami's thoughts were very calm; his 500 years of experience had long washed away the impulsiveness that he rarely had in the first place.

He closed the door and window and sat cross-legged on his bed. He closed his eyes slowly and after breathing a few times, he calmed his state of mind.

In the next moment the vision of his primeval aperture appeared in his mind. The aperture may be positioned inside his body but it was mysteriously unusual, limitlessly big and yet infinitely small. The outer layer of the aperture was a layer of light. The white light gave a thin impression, but it still supported the aperture well.

In the aperture was a sea of primeval essence. The seawater was a green copper color, the surface of the sea clear and calm as a mirror. The water level was about half the height of the aperture. The entire volume of the sea occupied 44% of the aperture.

This was the green copper primeval sea of a Rank one Gu Master, and every drop of seawater was primeval essence. It was Yami's life elementary force and the condensation of his essence, vitality and soul.

Every drop of primeval essence was precious, because it was the root of a Gu Master, and was the source of power. Gu Masters need to rely on primeval essence to refine and use Gu.

As he retreated his mind from the primeval sea, Yami opened his eyes retrieved the Moonlight Gu. The Moonlight Gu quietly sat in the middle of his palm, resembling a curved blue moon, small and crystalline.

With a simple thought, the primeval sea in his aperture tumbled and a jet of primeval essence broke from the sea surface and transferred out of the body, finally rushing into the Moonlight Gu. The Moonlight Gu suddenly radiated fiercely in blue light, slightly trembling in Yami's palm, resisting the influx of primeval essence.

Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, carrying the secrets of the world, the bearers of the law of nature. They are living creatures that live freely under the sky, each born with a will of its own. Right now with Yami trying to refine it, it would mean wiping out its will. Feeling the danger looming, the Moonlight Gu naturally resisted.

The process of refining is a very difficult one.

The Moonlight Gu was like a curved crescent moon. As the green copper primeval essence poured into the crescent, the two pointed ends of the crescent turned green. Slowly this green copper essence began to spread to the middle of the crescent moon.

In less than three minutes, Yami's face had become pale. A huge volume of primeval essence continuously poured into the Moonlight Gu, making him feel a weakness that rapidly attacked his heart.

1%, 2%, 3%… 8%, 9%, 10%.

Ten minutes later, Yami's primeval sea had used away 10% of primeval essence. Yet on the blue crystalline Moonlight Gu's surface, the points of green copper essence on the two tips of the crescent only expanded a tiny little area towards the center.

The resistance of the Moonlight Gu was immensely strong. Fortunately Yami had anticipated this earlier and did not feel surprised. He persisted and poured in more essence into the Moonlight Gu.

1%, 2%, 3%…

After another twenty minutes, the primeval sea in Yami's body was only left with 14%. The green copper essence on the Moonlight Gu had expanded slightly, the two tips of green essence adding up together covering the surface of the Moonlight Gu by about 1/12. The rest of the Moonlight Gu's surface was still the original color of light blue.

"Refining a Gu is so hard," Yami sighed as he looked at it. He broke the influx of primeval essence, stopping the refining process.

Up until now, he had been refining for half an hour, the primeval sea in his aperture consumed over more than half, with only 14% of primeval essence left. And the Moonlight Gu was only refined by 1/12 of it.

To make matters worse the Moonlight Gu was still emitting its faint blue halo. Even though Yami had stopped refining, the Moonlight Gu did not stop resisting; it was still driving out Yami's green coppery primeval essence.

Yami could clearly feel that the primeval essence that he poured into the Moonlight Gu was being pushed out, bit by bit by the Moonlight Gu out of its body. On its surface, the green copper essence at the two tips of the moon crescent was slowly shrinking.

Based on this speed of reduction, in about six hours later the Moonlight Gu would be able to completely expel all of Yami's primeval essence. At that time when he needed to refine this Gu it would make no difference from starting over again.

"Every time when refining Gu, it is just like a fight between two armies, a battle of positional warfare, or war of attrition. Even though I refined 1/12 of the Gu, I wasted three quarters of my primeval essence. When refining Gu, a Gu Master has to replenish his primeval sea while continuously engaging the refinement process, consolidating his victory. The refinement of a Guis a test of one's skill in shifting his primeval essence and the patience of an enduring battle."

Yami took out a piece of primeval stone from his moneybag as he pondered.

A Gu Master had two ways to replenish the consumed primeval essence. The first way was natural recovery. After a period of time the primeval sea would naturally replenish the primeval essence. In the case of a C grade talent like Yami, it would take about one hour to replenish 4% of primeval essence. In six hours it could recover 24% points of the total quantity primeval essence.

The second way was to absorb the natural essence directly from a primeval stone.

The primeval stone is a treasure from nature itself. As condensed natural primeval essence, while absorbing it the water level of the primeval sea was rising with a continuous speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

After about half an hour the primeval sea had been replenished back to its original volume of 44%. At this level the rising water level of the sea stopped abruptly. Even though there was still space inside the aperture, Yami could not store any more primeval essence. This was the limit of his C grade talent.

Thus from here one can see the significance of the grade of one's cultivation talent. The higher the talent, the more primeval essence the aperture can hold, and the faster the natural recovery of the primeval essence will be.

In Yami's case to refine a Gu and solidify his results, he would have to absorb primeval stones because his primeval essence natural recovery rate cannot defeat the rate of the Moonlight Gu expelling it out.

However in the case of the A grade talent Naruto, he could replenish 8% of primeval essence every hour. In six hours he would recover 48% of primeval essence, and in the same time frame the Moonlight Gu could only expel away 3% points of primeval essence. Naruto did not require the external help of a primeval stone. He could go on refining with a few rests in the process and successfully refine the Moonlight Gu in a few days.

That was why Yami knew from the beginning that in this test, to refine the Moonlight Gu he never had the chance to obtain the first position. It had nothing to do with a person's actual strength, as the first factor was the grade of talent.

The second factor would be primeval stones. If there was an abundance of primeval stones, without hesitation to consume, a B grade talent could also surpass an A grade talent and obtain the first position.

"In my hands are six pieces of primeval stones. I cannot compare to Konoha Mo Bei or Konoha Chi Chen, these kinds of people who have their elder family members supporting them from behind. My talent is on C grade, and cannot be compared to Naruto who has an A grade talent. I never had a chance of winning in this test. Why not divert my energy and go look for the Liquor worm? If I can make the Liquor Worm into my vital Gu it would be so much better than the Moonlight Gu. Hmm? The sound of rain outside the window has gotten lighter, there seems to be a sign of ceasing. The rain has been ongoing for three days and three nights, it should be time it stopped."

Yami kept the Moonlight Gu and got down from his bed. As he was about to open the window, there was a knock on the door.

Outside the door came his servant Sakura's voice, "Young master Yami, its me. It has been raining straight for three days, so I brought you some food and wine. Young master can eat and drink and ease some depressed feelings."

* * *

Yami frowned slightly. Based on intuition and 500 years' worth of life experience, he could smell a conspiracy.

His eyes flashed and he relaxed his brows. "I'm a little hungry right now, you came at the right time. Come in," He said.

Outside the door, while carrying the food box Sakura smiled coldly as she heard his reply. But when she pushed open the door, her face was left with a gentle and meek expression.

"Young master Yami, the food and wine smells really good. I can smell it as I hold the box." Her voice was sweet and had a hint of longing and flattery. She put the food box on a small table and took out the dishes, arranging them nicely. The food was indeed very fragrant and tasty. After that she took out two wine cups and poured the wine.

"Come, young master. Sit down. Your servant mustered her courage today and wants to accompany young master for a drink." She smiled like a flower, walking to Yami's side. Boldly she took him by the hand and pulled him over to sit at the chair by the table.

Then she sat on his thigh and leaned her gentle body against Yami's chest, acting like a timid and lovable woman, whispering in his ear. "Young master Yami, your servant has always liked you. It doesn't matter what grade you are, I will always wish to be beside you, rely on you, and comfort you. Tonight your servant would like to give her body to you."

She really dressed up today.

She put on blusher, her lips like cherry powder. When she whispered in his ear, a delicate and youthful breath teased at Yami's earlobe. Because she was sitting on his lap, Yami could feel her well-shaped figure easily. Her elastic thighs, her slender little waist and her soft chest.

"Young master, let me feed you wine myself." Sakura picked up the wine cup, raising her head and taking a sip. Then her eyes fixated on Yami, her small cherry lips a little opened, slowly leaning over to his mouth.

Yami's expression was indifferent, as if what was on his lap was not a young maiden, but a block of stone.

When she saw Yami's expression, Sakura felt a little uneasy at first. But when her lips were just an inch away from his, she was assured, sneering in her heart. You're still pretending, she mused.

Just at this moment Yami scoffed, his tone disdainful. "So it's just a power play."

Sakura's face became stiff and she swallowed the wine in her mouth, trying to pull false flattery. "Young master Yami, what are you saying…"

Yami's eyes were emitting cold light. He stared into Sakura's eyes, placing his right hand on her snowy white neck at the same time, slowly pressing it with force. Sakura's pupils shrank and her voice was full of panic. "Young master, you're hurting me."

Yami did not answer, but his hold on her neck grew stronger.

"Young master Yami, your servant is a little scared!" Sakura already had difficulty breathing; she was looking flustered. A soft pair of hands subconsciously grasped at Yami's hand, trying to pry his hand away. But Yami's hand was strong like iron, unable to be pulled away.

"Looks like Uncle and Aunt let you come over to seduce me and frame me? This must mean that there are already people arranged downstairs, huh." Yami laughed coldly, adding, "But who do you think you are, coming to use tactics on me, with the two pieces of rotten flesh on your chest?"

As he said this, his left hand climbed up her chest and ruthlessly grabbed her soft breasts, making them incredibly deformed all of a sudden.

Intense pain flared from her chest; Sakura's eyes were round and wide-opened.

The pain was so great that her eyes were full of tears. She wanted to scream, but Yami gripped her throat so strongly that in the end she could only sob for a few times. Then she started resisting strongly, for she really was going to suffocate!

But at this moment, Yami slowly relaxed his grip.

Sakura immediately opened her mouth and gulped in air greedily. Her breathing was too eager – resulting in a series of violent coughs. Yami laughed lightly, stretching out his palm. He gently stroked her cheek, his tone carefree as he spoke, "Sakura, do you think I can kill you, or not?"

If Yami roared at her with an evil and loud voice, Sakura might actually fiercely retaliate. But when Yami smiled and spoke in a shallow manner, his soft voice asking if he could kill her or not, Sakura felt a deep fear from the bottom of her heart.

She was scared!

She looked at Yami with terror on her face, seeing this young man smiling all over his face as he gazed at her.

At this instance, Sakura vowed to herself that she would never forget his eyes for the rest of her life. This pair of eyes were not mixed with the slightest emotion, dark and profound, resembling a deep ancient pool that was hiding a horrifying beast.

Under the gaze of these eyes, Sakura felt like she was naked in the midst of ice and snow!

The person before me, definitely dares to kill me, is able to kill me…

Oh heavens! Why did I come and provoke this kind of devil?!

Sakura's heart was full of remorse. At this moment she longed to turn and flee. But right now she was still on his lap; she did not dare to run away, not even able to pluck the courage to do any action.

The muscles on her entire body were tense, her gentle stature trembling. Her face was as pale as white paper and she could not utter a single word.

"Since you are a personal servant girl, have been serving me for so many years, I won't kill you this time. Since you want to escape from slavery, go and find my little brother, he's stupid and naïve." Yami retracted his smile and patted her cheek, his tone plain like water.

With a sigh, he finally said —-

"You can leave."

Sakura was as dumb as a piece of wood as she walked out obediently. She was afraid out of her wits, and did not know how she managed to leave the side of the devil called Yami.

The men hidden in the shadows looked confused when they saw Sakura come out looking so shaken.

"They actually arranged such a beautiful trap, its even more innovative than my previous life. Hehe, Aunt and Uncle, this kindness of yours I will remember deeply!"

Not long after Sakura left, Yami stood up and left as well. No matter what, he could not stay at this residence anymore. A wise man sees and mitigates foreseen risks, what more to say for a devil? When there is insufficient strength, only a fool would put himself in danger.

"Innkeeper, do you have any rooms available?" Yami came to the only inn in the village and asked for the price.

"Yes, yes. There is room on the second floor and third floor. Not only is it cheap, the rooms are also tidy and clean. The first floor is the cafeteria; guests of the inn can come here and eat. There is also service for asking the inn workers to bring up food to your room." The innkeeper was full of hospitality as he entertained Yami.

This inn was the only one in the village, but the business was not very good. In fact it was somewhat deserted. Only when the annual merchant caravan came by to trade on Elemental Mountain, the inn would be full of people.

Yami was a little hungry, so he passed 2 full round pieces of primeval stones to the innkeeper. "Give me a good room for me to stay in, and prepare 2 jars of wine, 3-4 different dishes, return me any excess balance."

"Done." The innkeeper took the 2 pieces of primeval stone and asked, "Would you like to eat in your room, or dine in the hall?"

Yami looked at the sky. The rain had stopped and it was nearing evening. He could simply eat in the lobby and set out straight for the outskirts of the village when he was done, continuing his search for the treasure of the Flower Wine Monk. Thus he replied, "I'll eat in the hall."

The inn had a dining hall; there were a dozen square tables, four long benches surrounded each table. In between the tables were huge and thick pillars that were supporting the inn. The floor was covered with big tiles of marble, but it was wet; it was hard to conceal the moisture of the mountain.

There were 3 tables seated with people. Seated by the window, an old man was drinking wine, gazing outside at the sunset, being all alone. In the middle of the cafeteria was a table seated with 5-6 hunters. They were discussing about their hunting experiences in loud voices, and at their feet were a pile of different kinds of mountain prey, like pheasants and hares.

In another corner was a table with 2 young people, seemingly discussing in secret. Their figures were hidden in the darkness, it was hard to see them, and harder to know their gender.

Yami decided to sit by the table nearest to the door. Soon after, the dishes were served on the table.

"With my C grade talent, to refine the Moonlight Gu I would need to borrow primeval stones. If my luck is good and this Moonlight Gu does not have a strong will, I would only need 5 pieces. But if it is stubborn that I'd be in trouble, probably need around at least 8 pieces."

Gu are living creatures, so it is natural for them to have the will to survive.

Some have a strong will and would always resist the refinement process; some Gu have weak will, all throughout refining they helplessly surrender; once there was no resisting, the refining process would become relaxing.

"Right now I only have 6 primeval stones on me, but I gave 2 to the innkeeper so I'm left with 4 pieces. There's not enough."

In this world primeval stones are the local currency, and the buying power is very strong. A normal family of three would spend at most 1 piece of essence stone in a month. But when it came to a Gu Master, the consumption of primeval stones was greater. Take Yami for example; just by refining Gu alone he would need an average of 7 primeval stones or so. And this is just on a Moonlight Gu, if he really did find the Liquor worm, just to refine it with Yami's grade talent, he would need at least a dozen more!

"In other words, right now my situation is – Even if I find the Liquor worm, I don't necessarily have the primeval stones to refine it. However I still need to search around, because there is a huge possibility that the Flower Wine Monk's treasure has a huge abundance of primeval stones."

This was not a difficult deduction. The Flower Wine Monk was a Rank five Gu Master after all. For such a famous strong warrior of the Demonic Faction, how could he not have primeval stones, which are the must-have item in a Gu Master's cultivation?


	3. A True Hero Cuts Away Disgraceful Ties

**Righteously Severing Disgraceful Ties**

"Right now everything comes down to the Flower Wine Monk's treasure. If I can find it, all my problems will be solved. If I don't find it, all these issues will greatly slow down my speed of cultivation. If that happens I'll lose out to people at my age in cultivating. I don't understand! I've spent more than a week trying to attract the Liquor worm to appear, why do I still not see it?"

Yami frowned and racked his brains. It was like putting food into his mouth, but still not knowing how it tasted.

Suddenly there was a loud noise, interrupting his thoughts. Yami looked at the direction of the sound, realizing that the 6 hunters seated around the table at the middle of the hall were heavily drunk. The atmosphere around them was fiery and their faces were all red.

"Brother Zaji, come, drink another cup!"

"Old brother Heiji, we brothers admire your abilities! You took down a black skinned wild boar alone, what a man! This cup of wine you must drink, or else you'll be disrespecting us!"

"Thank you brothers for your sincerity, but I really can't drink anymore."

"Brother Heiji can't drink anymore, perhaps you dislike this wine because it's not good enough? Waiter, come over! Give me some good wine!"

The noise was becoming louder; it was obvious that the group had drunk a lot. The waiter hurriedly went over and said, "Well good sirs, we do have good wine, but it is quite expensive."

"What, you're afraid we won't pay up?!" When the hunters heard the waiter, quite a few of them stood up and stared at the waiter. They were either big and tall or thick and burly in stature, capable and vigorous in a threatening manner, each having the courage that mountain men possessed.

The waiter quickly said, "I would not dare to look down on you brave men, it's just that these wine is really expensive, one jar costs 2 pieces of primeval stones!"

The hunters were stunned. 2 primeval stones was definitely not cheap – It was the sum of 2 months of the normal average household monthly expenses. Even though hunters earn more from hunting when compared to ordinary mortals, like how some times a black skinned wild pig could be worth half a primeval stone. However hunting was risky and a mistake could turn the hunter into prey.

To the hunters, using 2 primeval stones just to drink a jar of wine was just not worth it.

"Is there really such an expensive wine?"

"Boy, you aren't trying to lie to us right?"

The hunters were shouting about, but their voices felt a little timid, unable to back out of the situation with grace. The waiter kept telling them he wouldn't dare.

The hunter called brother Zaji saw that the scene was not right, and he hurriedly said, "My brothers, let's not spend anymore. I can't drink anymore, let us drink this wine another day."

"What, you can't say that brother!"

"This is…"

The rest of the hunters were still shouting, but their voices started to fade away. One by one they sat back in their seats. The waiter was also a shrewd person. When he saw this, he knew that he was not able to sell the wine any more. However this situation hardly surprised him. As he was about to retreat, a young man's voice came from the table at the dark corner. "Hehe, hilarious. Each one of them blindly shouting for nothing. If you can't afford to buy wine, you should just obediently keep your mouths shut and go to the side!"

When the hunters heard this, one of them immediately retorted in anger, "Who said we can't afford it? Waiter, bring over that jar of wine, I'll give you the stones, two pieces of it!"

"Oh, give me a moment sir, I'll get it!" The waiter did not expect such a turn of events. He hurriedly replied and turned to grab a wine jar and brought it over. This wine jar was as big as the common jar of wine, but the moment it was uncorked, in that very instant a refreshing and mellow fragrance filled the entire cafeteria. Even the old man sitting alone at the window could not help but turn his head over when he smelled the wine aroma, and he gazed at the jar of wine.

It was definitely good wine.

"Dear guests, its not bragging. This is the green bamboo wine; the entire village only has one inn, which is us. Smell the fragrance!" The waiter inhaled deeply as he said this, his facial expression full of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Yami was moved. This inn waiter was really not boasting.

In the Konoha Village there were 3 taverns. The wine sold there were the common rice wine, muddy wine and other similar common wine. In order for Yami to attract the Liquor worm, he continuously bought wine for 7 days; it was naturally that he was aware of the prices.

Several of the hunters looked at the wine jar before them. They were consumed by alcohol addiction. Each of them twitched their noses and swallowed. As for the hunter who bought the wine in a moment of anger, his expression was even more interesting; a layer of remorse and anger appeared on his face.

After all this jar of wine was the value of two primeval stones!

"I was too rash and bought the wine by impulse. This waiter is not too typical. He immediately brought the wine, now the cork is unsealed. Even if I want to return the goods it is too late."

The more the hunter pondered, the more distressed he felt. He wanted to return it back, yet he was unable to do so in fear of being humiliated. At last he could only bang on the table and said with a strong smile, "Damn, this wine is good! Brothers please, drink all you want. Today this wine is on me!"

At this moment the young man at the table in the corner hissed, "How is this small jar of wine enough for six? If you have the guts then go buy a few more jars."

The hunter was furious when he heard this and stood up in a rage, his eyes fixed on the young man who spoke. "Brat, you sure have a lot of words. Come, stand up and fight me!"

"Oh? Then I will stand up." The young man got up from his seat as he heard the hunter's remark, grinning as he walked out from the shadows. His body figure was tall and thin, his skin pale. He was dressed in navy battle robes, and looked clean and neat. His head wore a blue headband; his upper body had a jacket that showed his thin and weak shoulders. The lower body had long pants, the feet were covered in bamboo sandals and the calves were tied.

The most important thing about him was the green belt on his waist. The middle of the belt was a shiny piece of copper; on the copper plate was a black "One" word.

"It's a Rank One Gu Master?!" The hunter clearly understood what this manner of clothing represented. He drew in a deep breath, the anger on his face dissipating, replaced by alarm.

He had never imagined that he actually provoked a Gu Master!

"Didn't you want to fight me? Come on then, hit me." The young Gu Master walked slowly towards the man, a playful smile on his face. But the hunter who had challenged him earlier had become frozen like a sculpture, unable to move from his spot.

"Maybe you guys can all come at me together, that works too." The young Gu Master slowly walked to the hunter's table, casually speaking.

The expressions on their faces had changed. Some of the hunters who had drunken red faces had gone pale suddenly. Each of their foreheads was drenched in cold sweat, and they felt restless, too afraid to even breathe heavily.

The young Gu Master stretched out a hand, picking up the green bamboo wine jar. He put it under his nose and sniffed, smiling. He said, "It sure smells good…"

"If my lord likes it, then please feel free to take and drink it. It is an apology from me for offending my lord," the hunter who provoked him earlier hurriedly replied and cupped his hands together before his chest, pushing a smile to his face.

Unexpectedly the young man's facial expression changed fiercely; with a loud crack the jar fell into pieces on the ground. The Gu Master looked cold as ice, his gaze sharp like a sword. He hissed angrily, "You think you have the right to apologize to me? You bunch of hunters must be really rich, even richer than me, since you guys spent 2 primeval stones to drink wine?! Do you have any idea, how upset I am over primeval stones right now! You actually dare to show off your wealth in front of me at this time! You mortals can even compare to me?!"

"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare!"

"To offend my lord, it is a heinous crime!"

"We mortals did not mean to offend you, these are our primeval stones, please accept lord Gu Master."

The hunters quickly got on their feet and took out the primeval stones they had. But how could these mortals have money, all they pulled out was just bits and fragments of primeval stones, the biggest fragment piece was no bigger than a quarter of a primeval stone.

The Gu Master did not accept these primeval stones, but he did not stop sneering. He used his hawk-like gaze and swept past the entire cafeteria. The hunters that he scanned over lowered their heads. The old man who sat at the window watching the scene also quickly turned his head to avoid the Gu Master's gaze.

Only Yami watched quietly, void of hesitation.

The clothing that this young Gu Master was wearing was the uniform that only formal Gu Masters could wear, so Yami was not qualified to wear it. Yami would only receive it from the clan after he graduated from the academy.

The word 'One' on the copper piece on the belt of the young Gu Master was to indicate his position as a Rank one Gu Master. However he was already around 20 years or so, and the aura of primeval essence that his body emitted seemed to indicate that he was Rank one upper stage.

Starting cultivation at 15 years of age and only reaching Rank one upper stage at around 20 years of age, this showed that the young Gu Master was only of D grade talent, which was a grade worse than Yami. There was a high possibility that this man was only a logistics Gu Master, not even counted as a battle Gu Master.

However even if that was the case, when facing these six brawny hunters it was more than sufficient.

This was the gap of power between a Gu Master and a mortal human.

"With power, one can be at the top. This is the nature of this world. No, actually any world is also the same, the big fish eats the small fish and the small fish eats the shrimp. It's just that this world shows it even more openly," Yami mused secretly.

"Alright Jiro, you already taught them a lesson. Let's not further embarrass these mortals. If it gets out, even if you are not embarrassed, I would be," the other young person sitting in the corner voiced out.

When everyone heard the voice speak, they realized that this young person was a woman.

The young Gu Master called Jiro stopped sneering as his female companion chided him. He did not even bother looking at the fragments of primeval stones that the hunters had taken out; these stones were not even the sum of two primeval stones, he was definitely not interested in it.

He flicked his sleeve and walked back to his original table. As he strode back he said maliciously, "If you think you have the guts to continue drinking, then go and drink green bamboo wine. I want to see, who still dares to drink this wine?"

The hunters all lowered their heads, acting like six obedient sons after being scolded.

The strong aroma of wine filled the entire cafeteria. The hunter who bought the wine felt his heart aching as he smelled the fragrance. After all he had spent 2 primeval stones on this wine, yet he never got to drink even one mouthful!

Yami put down his chopsticks; he had eaten enough. As he sniffed in the wine aroma his eyes flashed for a moment, then he took out 2 primeval stones and put them on the table. "Waiter, give me a jar of green bamboo wine," he said indifferently.

The whole scene froze.

The young Gu Master called Jiro instantly stopped in his footsteps. The corners of his mouth twitched and he exhaled. He had just finished his warning, yet right after he was done Yami wanted the wine. This was like specially stepping over him and slapping him in the face.

He turned around and narrowed his eyes, shooting a cold glare at Yami.

Yami calmly stared back, his face indifferent and void of fear.

Jiro's eyes flashed and the coldness in his gaze slowly disappeared; he felt the aura of primeval essence on Yami's body. After realizing Yami's identity, he lit up with a smile and said warmly, "Ah, it's a junior brother."

Everyone else came to the realization and the looks they shot at Yami changed.

No wonder this young teenager was not one bit afraid of a Gu Master, it was because he was also one. Even though he was still attending the academy, his position was already different.

"Lord Gu Master, your wine!" The waiter scurried over, smiling all over his face. Yami nodded at the young Gu Master and took and jar of wine and walked out of the inn.

* * *

Around 300 years ago, an incredible genius appeared in the Konoha clan. He was very talented and had already cultivated to the point of a Rank five Gu Master at a young age, and even had the possibility of going further. He was famous throughout Elemental Mountain, had a bright future and was the pinnacle of hope and responsibility in the clan's eyes.

In the history of the Konoha clan, everyone spoke of him the most – the fourth clan head.

Unfortunately he sacrificed himself to protect his people and fought the equally powerful Rank five Gu Master, the demonic Flower Wine Monk. Even though he defeated the Flower Wine Monk after a fierce battle, he let the devil get on his knees and beg for mercy.

In the end he was careless and got caught by the Flower Wine Monk's sneak attack. The fourth head angrily executed the Flower Wine Monk, but due to his own heavy injuries he died an untimely death.

This tragic incident had long since circulated until today, becoming a popular story among the Konoha clan. However Yami knew that this story was not to be believed, because it had a very large loophole.

In his previous life, a month later from now, a drunken Gu Master who had been rejected by his lover lay down outside the village, so drunk he was like a fish. In the end because of the overflowing smell of wine, it ended up attracting a Liquor worm.

The Gu Master chased after the Liquor worm and found the remains of the Flower Wine Monk in a secret underground cave, also finding the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance. This Gu Master quickly hurried back to the clan and told them of the matter, causing a huge stir.

As the storm gradually subsided he also gained benefit from it – He obtained the Liquor worm, his cultivation increased, the girl friend who once abandoned him went back to his side and he became the talk of the village for a while.

When stories are passed down generation by generation, it is normal to change along the way. But in Yami's memories, the story of the Gu Master discovering the treasure seemed quite authentic, yet he had a feeling that the story was hiding other truths.

"I was not aware of it at first, but in these few days while I searched and analyzed on the side, I feel that something feels out of place." The night grew dark, and as Yami walked in the bamboo forest that grew around the village, he reviewed through the clues he had so far in his head.

"If I put myself in his shoes and think about it, when I discover the Flower Wine Monk's treasure why would I not take it all for myself, but go and notify the clan instead? Don't even mention sense of clan honor, everyone has greed in their hearts. What is it that would make that Gu Master betray the greediness in his heart, even going as far as to be willing to abandon all interest and profit, and report this finding to the clan's top brass?"

The truth is always hidden inside the fog of history. Yami racked his brains but he could not get the result. After all the clues he had were too few. The only two clues he had could easily be true or false, so it could not be fully relied upon.

Yami could not help but think of himself. "No matter what, after buying this jar of green bamboo wine I only have 2 primeval stones left on me. If I can't find the treasure then I'll be in grave trouble. Today shall be considered the final gamble, it's all or nothing!"

However he didn't have enough primeval stones to refine a Gu worm in the first place. So why not invest it in this wine and increase the chances of success?

If it were in the case of other people, most of them would probably play it safe and save up the primeval stones. But in the case of Yami, the efficiency of doing so was too low. He would rather take the risk and gamble.

You see, the people of the Demonic Faction love to take risks.

Right now, the night grew thicker, the spring moon shaped like a bow. Clouds obscured the moonlight, as if coating the crescent moon with a thin sheet of gossamer.

Because it just finished raining continuously for three days and three nights, the turbid energy between the mountains had been washed away clean, leaving behind the purest of freshness. This fresh air was pure like a piece of white paper, and was more effective in spreading the wine aroma around. That was the first reason why Yami was full of confidence tonight.

The previous seven days of searching was not without gain. At least it proved that the Flower Wine Monk did not die in those places. This was the second reason for Yami's confidence.

In the bamboo forest the grass was luxuriant, the white flowers endless and the green spear bamboo straight like a pencil, the forest resembling a clump of jade rods.

Yami opened the jar seal, releasing a thick wine aroma instantly. Green bamboo wine could be said as the Konoha Village's number one wine. This was the third reason for Yami's confidence tonight.

"With these three big reasons gathering together, if I want to succeed it has to be tonight!" Yami cheered in his heart as he slowly tilted the wine jar, pouring a small stream of wine, dripping it onto a stone. If those bunch of hunters saw this sight, they would have probably become insanely distressed. This wine is worth 2 whole primeval stones after all…

But Yami was indifferent.

The fragrant aroma quickly spread out into the night. The breeze was gentle, the faint aroma floating about and contaminating the bamboo forest. Yami stood at his spot, smelling the aroma. He waited for a while, yet he did not see any movement.

All he heard was a nightingale crying in the near distance, its sound like a string of bells. His gaze was silent. He did not feel surprised, and he moved away, walking to a spot a few hundred meters away.

In this place he did the same, pouring out a few drips of wine and waiting at the spot.

He did the same thing over and over again, moving away to a few other different locations, dripping wine a few times. After all that the green bamboo wine in the jar was only left with a bit.

"This is the last time," Yami sighed. He tipped the wine jar over, the bottom facing the sky. All the remaining wine left in the jar flowed out. The wine sprinkled over the grass, letting the green grass sway about. The wild flowers were stained with wine, slightly lowering their heads.

Yami stood with the last shred of hope in his bosom, and gazed around.

Right now the night was already very deep. A thick cloud had obscured the moonlight. The dark shadows were like a curtain, covering the bamboo grove. It was deadly silent all around, each strand of green spear bamboo standing alone, leaving a trail of lines that were straight up and down in Yami's pupils.

He quietly stood at the spot, listening to his own clear breathing. Then he felt the small hope that he carried in his chest, slowly dissipating away, becoming nothing.

"It failed after all." His heart muttered, "Today I had three great advantages gathered together, yet I still failed, not even seeing the shadow of the Liquor worm. This means that in future the rate of success will be lower. Right now I only have two primeval stones left, and I still need to refine the Moonlight Gu. I can't risk it anymore."

The end result of taking a risk was often unsatisfactory. But when the result was ideal, the profit would be impressive. Yami liked taking risks, but he was not a gambling addict, and he was not someone who was bent on gambling back what he lost. He had his own limit, he was clear about his own capabilities.

Right now, the five hundred years of life experience was telling him, it was time to stop.

Sometimes life was like this. Often it was that there was that one goal that seemed so perfect, filled with temptation. It seemed so near yet with so many twists and turns, the goal was constantly unfulfilled. It made people restless, thinking about it night and day.

"This is the helplessness of life, but it's also the charm of living," Yami laughed bitterly, turning to walk away.

It was at this moment.

A gust of wind blew, like a gentle arm, lightly brushing away the clouds in the night sky. The clouds floated away to reveal the hidden moon. The crescent shaped moon hanging in the sky was like a white jade lamp, pouring moonlight that was clear as water down onto the earth. The moonlight spilled over the bamboo forest, spilled onto the mountain rock, bathing onto the rivers and streams in the mountain, shedding onto Yami's body.

Yami was dressed in plain clothing; under the gentle touch of the moonlight, his young face became fairer. The darkness seemed to fade away in a flash, and taking its place was a field of snowy frost flowers. As if it was infected by the moonlight, the nightingale began to sing once more, but this time it was not just one, but many. Scattered among the bamboo grove, they all tweeted in response.

At the same time, a type of insect that inhabited huge mountains, the Dragonpill crickets that were active under moonlight started singing a rustling song of life. They were critters that only came out in the night. Their bodies emitted faint red light; at this moment they jumped out in droves, each of their bodies flashing with the brilliance of a red agate.

At first glance, Yami thought that these Dragonpill crickets were like jets of crimson water bouncing about, landing on the green grass and wild flowers, prancing under the moonlight in the bamboo grove.

The bamboo forest was like a conscious pond, under the moonlight the green jade colors of the spear bamboo flashed in the brilliance of light and smooth jade. The enchanting sight of the dense trees and bright flowers in spring, Mother Nature was showing Yami her immense beauty at this moment.

Yami unconsciously stopped in his footsteps, feeling as if he was in a heavenly land. He was already about to depart, but at this moment he subconsciously looked around.

The clump of wild flowers and grass that he had poured the last dredges of wine over trembled gently in the wind, remaining empty. Yami laughed at himself and took back his line of sight.

However.

Unexpectedly in the process of turning away, he saw a dot of white snow.

This bead of snow was glued to a spear bamboo pole not far away. Under the moonlight it was like a suspended round pearl.

Yami's two pupils expanded fiercely, his body trembling slightly. His heart dropped and started pumping faster each second.

It was the Liquor worm!

* * *

The Liquor worm was shaped like a silkworm, its entire body giving out pearl white light. It was a little chubby and had a cute appearance.

The Liquor worm fed on wine and could fly. When it flew around, it would curl up into a ball, and its speed was very fast. Even though it was only a Rank one Gu, but it was worth even more than a few Rank two Gu.

To make it into one's vital Gu was way more beneficial than the Moonlight Gu.

Right now the Liquor worm was glued to a bamboo pole merely 50-60 steps away from Yami. He held his breath, not closing in rashly, but slowly walking backwards.

He knew his distance was very near, but to really catch a Liquor worm directly it was an incredibly difficult task for a Gu Master who just opened the primeval aperture like him. You could say, there was totally no hope of success.

Yami's was unable to see the Liquor worm clearly, but in the darkness he could feel the Liquor worm directing its vigilance at him. He slowly backed away gently, trying his best not to disturb the Liquor worm.

He knew that if the Liquor worm was to fly away, he could never catch up with his own speed. He needed to wait until the Liquor worm drank until it was drunk, and then with its flying speed slowed down he would have a chance to catch it.

Seeing Yami retreated further away, the Liquor worm crawling on the bamboo pole stirred. The strong aroma of wine before it was so tempting, so attracting, making the worm lost in a reverie. If it had saliva, it would have long been drooling a pool of saliva around it.

But the Liquor worm was incredibly wary and vigilant. Only after Yami retreated 200 steps back did it shrink a little and bounced into the air. When it fluttered high in the air, its body curled up into a ball, looking like a small and white rice dumpling. The little dumpling swept across the air in a round arc, floating down onto the grass that was sprinkled with green bamboo wine earlier.

With delicious food right before its eyes, the Liquor worm dropped its guard. It impatiently climbed onto a flower bud filled with some wine and popped its little head in, only leaving a chubby tail on the outside.

The Liquor worm was ravenous, and the green bamboo wine was so delicious. It opened its mouth wide and inhaled, very quickly lost in the deliciousness of its food, totally forgetting about Yami.

At this moment, Yami started to approach cautiously. He could see the tail of the Liquor worm outside the flower bud. This tail was just like a silkworm's tail, chubby and rounded. The light it emitted made people think of a pearl.

At first the Liquor worm's tail was hanging outside, unmoving. Then after a while this tail started to curl upwards, showing that it was drinking really happily. At the end when Yami was only ten steps away, its tail started wagging and swinging with a cheerful rhythm.

It was totally drunk!

Seeing this made Yami nearly laugh out. He did not continue walking forward, but patiently waited. If he rushed over right now he would definitely have a huge chance on catching the Liquor worm, but Yami's intention was to have this Liquor worm guide him to the Flower Wine Monk's remains.

In a moment the Liquor worm withdrew from the flower bud. Its body was fatter and its head swayed about, resembling a drunken man. Unexpectedly it did not realize Yami's presence. It climbed up onto another bright yellow flower and perched on the stamen, feeding heartily on the wine droplets there.

This time after it had finished drinking, it finally felt full. Its body slowly shrank into a round ball and slowly flew up. When it was 1.5 meters above the ground, it leisurely flew in the direction of the deeper part of the bamboo forest.

Yami quickly followed after its trail.

The Liquor worm was already heavily drunk, making it fly slower by half of its usual speed. Even though this was the case, Yami still had to run with all his might to follow after its shadow.

The night was washing past his vision as the young teenager ran in the bamboo forest, chasing after a small bead of snow not far ahead.

The moonlight was gentle, the breeze slow and steady. In the bamboo forest that was like a clear pond, the stalks of green spear bamboo flashed past before his eyes, quickly falling behind him. The ground was a green carpet of grass, riddled with blossoming wild flowers. There were small stones with moss growing, and the yellow shoots of bamboo.

Yami's faint shadow was also speeding ahead on the ground, passing through the shadows that each stalk of bamboo cast on the earth like a black line. He tightly kept his sight on the bead of snow, gulping in huge amounts of fresh mountain air, ordering his legs to catch up in the midst of faint wine aroma in the air.

Because of his speed, the moonlight looked like water to his eyes. Light and shadow moved frequently, like he was galloping in water filled with seaweed.

The Liquor worm flew out of the bamboo forest, and so did Yami. A sea of white flowers with a yellow spot in the middle borrowed the wind from his feet, scattering their petals. A group of Dragonpill crickets resembling a flowing poem just so happened to move to the front; as Yami dashed through there was a swoosh and a red cloud bloomed before him, dispersing about a sea of red star fireflies that emerged from the cloud.

A quiet mountain stream paved with pebbles, the gurgling water surface reflecting the spring moon in the night sky; with a few splashes Yami waded across, creating thousands of silver coloured ripples.

It was a pity that this stream, after so many ages, had its beautiful and precious stones trampled upon and broken.

Yami was in hot pursuit, firmly following behind the Liquor worm. Going upward the mountain stream, he could already hear the sound of a waterfall. After he turned around a sparse forest, he saw the Liquor worm fly into a crevice in the middle of a boulder.

Yami's eyes lit up and he stopped in his tracks.

"So it's here." He panted heavily, his heart beating against his chest like mad. With this one stop he could feel his entire body covered in sweat, hot air surging throughout his body accompanying his accelerating blood flow.

Looking around, he found that this place was a shallow benchland.

Pebbles of various sizes covered the ground, the river surface barely covering over the small stones. There were also blocks of gray boulders scattered freely in the area.

Behind Elemental Mountain was a huge waterfall. The flow of the waterfall varied with the weather; it plummeted down to the earth, pounding out a deep pool. Beside the deep pool was the Kiri Village, a clan with powerful influence that was comparable to the Konoha Village.

The waterfall branched out to many smaller branches, and it was apparent that Yami was facing one of the many branches of a branch. On normal occasions this benchland was dry, but due to the recent heavy rainfall that went on for three days and three nights, a shallow stream formed here.

The source of the flowing stream was from the huge boulder that the Liquor worm had entered into earlier.

The boulder leaned against a vertical mountain wall. Small waterfalls that branched away from the main waterfall were like silver pythons that flowed down the mountain wall, hitting onto the boulder. After a considerably long time the middle of this huge boulder had eroded away and formed a crevice.

At this time as the waterfall washed down, the water current gently roared. It was like a white curtain, completely obstructing the gap in the boulder.

After observing his surroundings, Yami's breathing was no longer anxious. His eyes flashed with a hint of resolve; he walked to the boulder and took in a deep breath, and then he rushed in headfirst.

The boulder gap was rather large, and two adult humans could walk side by side in it with no problems. What more to say with Yami, who was merely a 15-year-old teenage boy?

Once he rushed in, the rapid currents pressured down on Yami's body. At the same time the cold water quickly drenched him from head to toe. Yami battled against the water pressure, moving in quick steps forward. As he walked a few dozen steps, the water pressure started to lessen.

But the space in the fissure also began to shrink, and Yami could only walk sideways. His ears were filled with the roaring of the water, the top of his head was a sheet of white, and deeper into the boulder was a black darkness.

What was hiding in the darkness?

It could be a poisonous serpent, but it could also be a poisonous gecko. Perhaps it was a trap set by the Flower Wine Monk, or perhaps it was empty.

Yami could only continue forward by walking sideways, slowly edging into the darkness. The water no longer washed over his head; the stone walls were covered in moss, grazing against his skin, feeling slippery. Soon he was swallowed by the darkness, and the stone crevice became narrower, squeezing around him. Gradually even his skull could not rotate freely. Still Yami gritted his teeth and continued forward.

After walking another twenty more steps, he realized that there was a red shade of light in the darkness. At first, he thought it was an illusion. But when he blinked and focused, he began to confirm that this was indeed light!

This realization made him renew his spirit.

He continued walking for another fifty to sixty steps, the red light growing brighter. In his eyes the light slowly expanded into a long, vertical and fine seam.

He stretched out his left arm, suddenly feeling that the wall in front had bent away. Instantly he rejoiced, knowing that there was an enclosed space inside the huge boulder. With another few steps he finally rushed into this light seam.

His eyes were greeted with the sight of an approximately 80meters² wide enclosure.

"I have been walking for so long. With this distance I'd have long passed the boulder, so I should be in the heart of the mountain cliff right now." As he sized up this hidden space, he moved his hands and legs about, stretching his limbs.

The entire room was filled with dim red light, but he could not tell where the light was coming from. The stone walls were damp and covered in moss, but the air here was very dry. On the walls there was also a few withering vines. The vines intertwined with each other, weaving across half of the wall surface. There were even a few withering flowers growing on the vines.

Yami looked at the remnants of these flowers and leaves, feeling somewhat familiar.

"These are Wine Sack Flower Gu, and Rice Pouch Grass Gu." Suddenly a thought had crossed his mind and he was able to recognize these withering stems and vines.

Gu came in many shapes and forms. Some were like mineral rocks such as the blue crystal form of the Moonlight Gu. Some came in the forms of worms, such as the silkworm-like Liquor worm. There were also flowery grassy types, just like the Wine Sack Flower Gu and the Rice Pouch Grass Gu before Yami.

These two types of Gu were Rank one natural Gu. Just with pouring in primeval essence would they be able to grow. After growing up the middle of the flower would secrete flower nectar wine, and the grass pouch would grow out fragrant rice.

Yami moved his line of sight along the vines, and sure enough he discovered a heap of withered roots gathered into a ball-shaped clump at a corner. The Liquor worm was resting on the clump of dead roots, sleeping soundly. It was already within easy reach.

Yami walked over and took the Liquor worm into his arms. Then he got onto his knees and pulled the dead vines apart, discovering a pile of skeleton bones bundled inside.

"I've finally found you, Flower Wine Monk." There was a smile on his lips as he saw this.

Just as he was about to reach his hand out and strip away the remaining vines, suddenly-

"Try touching it?" A voice full of murderous intent suddenly sounded behind Yami.

* * *

In this secret cave, someone's voice loomed behind all of a sudden.

Even when it came to Yami he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing, his scalp numb.

He had been followed!

Could it be that him repeatedly going out these few days had aroused the suspicion and attention of people?

Or was it someone sent by his uncle?

In his mind he even thought of the Rank one Gu Master that he encountered in the inn, the young man called Jiro.

In that short moment his mind flashed countless ideas and guesses, in addition to thinking of a solution.

Yami could feel that in the short sentence, it was full of deep murderous intent. This made him secretly groan – He was only a Rank one initial stage right now, and he did not even have a vital Gu. To a Gu Master this was the equivalent of having zero fighting ability, how was he supposed to fight?

"Too weak, too weak!" He roared in his head.

"You have already been poisoned by my Single Gate Poison Gu. Without my other Gu that acts as the counterpart to it, after seven days you will turn into pus and blood and die," the voice said behind him.

Yami gritted his teeth, his expression cold. He said in a low tone, "You want the Liquor worm? I can give it to you."

He slowly stood up, his actions careful. But at this moment, another voice appeared. This voice was full of fear, and said in a tremble, " I'll give it, I can give you anything, please just spare my life, O Flower Wine Monk!"

"Wait a minute, this is…" Yami frowned and suddenly turned around in realization. He was met with the sight of light and shadow changing and fluctuating on the wall in front of him, a picture emerging.

A lean and threatening Gu Master was standing at the top of a mountain; there was another Gu Master prostrating before him. Around the two Gu Masters was a collapsed pit, fragments and chunks of stone littering the area, showing the obvious scene of a fierce battle that just ended.

Not far away from them was a group of old onlookers, their faces filled with anger and fear.

In the middle of the scene, the victorious Gu Master lifted his head upwards and laughed loudly. "Ha ha ha, Konoha's hero, cultivating to Rank five at such a young age. I thought you were quite something at first, but I didn't expect you to be so unbearable. Hmph!"

The laughing Gu Master had long and thin eyes. He was dressed in long pink robes, his huge and wide sleeves swaying with the wind. The area where his robes intersected around his neck was loose and wide open, revealing his strong and pale chest muscles. The most eye-catching part of him was his bald head, shining without a single strand of hair.

"The Flower Wine Monk!" Yami immediately recognized the identity of this Gu Master.

"To compare myself to Sir Flower Wine, I'm just a fart! I must have been unwell in the head, to actually not recognize such a great person and offended Sir Flower Wine. Sir Flower Wine, please remember my clan's generous hospitality earlier and spare my life!" The Gu Master prostrating on the ground was shaking, cold sweat all over, tears and mucus mixing as he begged for mercy.

Yami narrowed his eyes and carefully distinguished the two, realizing that the other Gu Master was wearing the Konoha clan head uniform. Looking at the appearance, it was clear that this person was the fourth generation clan leader!

As for those aged onlookers, they were probably the clan elders of that generation.

"Hehe, generous hospitality? You sure have the guts to say it! I was actually sincere in coming to trade with you, using primeval stones to buy your clan's moon orchids with a fair price. It was you who was harboring evil intentions, pretending to greet and take me in, telling me to take a seat at your banquet, intending to lace my liquor with a poisonous Gu. You all have been looking down on me way too much, I have made a living under the sky with the name of Flower Wine, how could I possibly be poisoned this way?"

The Flower Wine Monk pointed at the kneeling fourth generation clan leader, sneering, "If you cooperated fairly none of this would have happened. In the end you just wanted to use my head to raise your reputation and fame, you only have yourself to blame for dying!"

"Sir, please spare my worthless life!" The fourth generation clan head shouted in dismay, his knees scraping against the ground, he quickly crawled over to the Flower Wine Monk's feet and hugged against his thigh.

"Sir, my clan has a spirit spring which produces primeval stones, we also planted huge numbers of moon orchids in an underground cave. I am willing to take in your Enslavement Gu and become your servant, my life and death are at a whim, I am willing to devote a lifelong servitude to you sir!"

Yami watched speechlessly, while the few elders in the picture looked even more uncertain.

The Flower Wine Monk narrowed his eyes, his anger had already calmed down. His eyes flashed and he said, "Hmph, the Enslavement Gu is precious beyond reasoning, it is a Rank five Gu, do you really think I would have one? However you have been infected by my Single Gate Poison Gu, only I can cure the poison so I'm not afraid of you disobeying. Since that is the case, your clan has to give me 3,000 stalks of moon orchids every week, also 3,000 primeval stones. I will come around every now and then to pick up the goods and temporarily cure your poison, sparing your useless life."

"Thank you so much for your mercy, sir! Thank you so much for your mercy, sir!" The fourth generation clan head cried repeatedly, kowtowing non-stop. His head bled continuously as it bumped against the mountain rock.

"Hmph, stop kowtowing, I despise groveling people like you the most! What so called Konoha genius, strong Rank five fighter, how unworthy of your name. You better serve me properly. This is also regarding your life… Urgh!" The Flower Wine Monk suddenly cried out, his face making a horrified expression.

He kicked away the fourth generation clan head with his leg, his body swaying. He frantically backtracked a few big steps, yelling at the fourth generation clan head, "How do you still have Gu?"

The fourth generation clan head was kicked at the pit of his stomach and he spat out a mouthful of blood. He got up with a painstaking effort, his face revealing a scheming smile. "Heh heh heh, anybody has the right to punish people of the Demonic Faction! This Gu is called Moonshadow, it is the best at hiding. Even though it is only Rank four, but it has the ability to restrict the usage of the primeval sea and primeval essence. Demon, you and I have been fighting fiercely, you don't have many Gu on you anymore, how could you possibly restrain the Moonshadow Gu? Just obediently surrender and become my servant, as long as you serve me until I am happy, you will still have a chance to live!"

The Flower Wine Monk flew into a rage and roared, "To hell with you!"

His voice had barely faltered away when his body surged forward like a bolt of electricity, a punch landing onto the fourth generation clan head's heart.

The fourth generation clan leader did not expect the Flower Wine Monk to be so radical; even if his primeval sea was threatened, the Flower Wine Monk was unwilling to compromise. A huge force came and he flew into the air, his body falling onto the ground like a broken sack.

Thump.

He spouted out a huge mouthful of fresh blood, the red liquid mingled with countless bits of internal organs.

"Have you gone mad, we could have totally settled this over a discussion…" He stared daggers at the Flower Wine Monk, his lips moving with great effort. His sentence went unfinished, for his legs gave way and his head crooked to the side. He died.

"Clan head!"

"Men of the Demonic path are all insane."

"Kill him, kill this demon. Avenge the clan leader!"

"He has been inflicted by the Moonshadow Gu, he can't just simply use his primeval essence anymore, over a time even his primeval essence will be threatened."

The elders who were watching at the sidelines all roared in fury and swarmed the area.

"Ha ha ha, all those who are looking for death, come!" The Flower Wine Monk cried into the air. Facing the elders charging at him, he rushed at them headfirst.

A fierce battle ensued and the Flower Wine Monk quickly had the upper hand. Very soon all the elders had collapsed onto the ground, some of them injured and the rest dead. Just as the Flower Wine Monk was about to finish off the surviving elders, his facial expression suddenly changed and he covered a hand over his abdomen. "Damn!"

"I'll come back in future to deal with you lot," said the Flower Wine Monk. He stared daggers at a few of the elders and his body moved like electricity as he fled into the mountain woods, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

* * *

"Try touching it?"

"You have already been poisoned by my Single Gate Poison Gu. Without my other Gu that acts as the counterpart to it, after seven days you will turn into pus and blood and die."

"To compare myself to Sir Flower Wine, I'm just a fart! I must have been unwell in the head, to actually not recognize such a great person and offended Sir Flower Wine. Sir Flower Wine, please remember my clan's generous hospitality earlier and spare my life!"

The scene replayed itself over for the second time on the wall. Yami remained silent; when the motion picture started to repeat itself for the third time he finally sighed faintly and said, "I see."

This method of leaving a moving picture with sound on the wall was probably the Flower Wine Monk's doing with the help of a Photo-audio Gu. This Gu was able to record down imagery and project it out later.

The Photo-audio Gu fed on light and sound to survive. For some unknown reason this secret cave emitted red light, while at the same time the stone crevice was connected to the outside world, so it would not completely isolate the sounds outside. Right now Yami could still hear the roaring of the smaller waterfalls. Thus the Photo-audio Gu was able to live on in this secret cave.

A moment ago when Yami ripped away the withered vines, he had probably alarmed the Photo-audio Gu hiding in the stone wall. As long as one is not stupid, with mere guesswork one could tell that this moving image was authentic.

Back then, the fourth generation clan head tried to plot against the Flower Wine Monk but he failed. After he lost in the battle he tried a sneak attack; even though it repelled away the latter, he eventually died because of it. This part of history was considered disgraceful, and the remaining surviving clan elders decided to tamper with the truth.

They reversed the roles of the fourth generation clan head and the Flower Wine Monk.

The Flower Wine Monk became the one who was defeated in battle and tried a sneak attack, and later died on the spot. On the other hand, the fourth generation leader was turned into the justified and perfect hero.

But this story itself had a big loophole – The Flower Wine Monk had clearly died on the spot, so his corpse should be in the hands of the Konoha clan, but why was another pile of remains found?

In his previous life, the Gu Master who found it had probably been terrified after seeing the moving image. Those surviving elders had long been dead, but to prevent the truth of the Flower Wine Monk from returning, this truth was probably kept secret by the top brass of the clan.

That Gu Master realized that if he single handedly took the treasure it would be a huge risk. If people investigated and found that he was involved with the Flower Wine Monk in future, the top brass would naturally execute him. Thus after making his choice, he did not dare to hide away this treasure, but instead make a decision to notify the top brass.

By doing so it would prove his loyalty to the clan. His subsequent circumstances would also show that he made a wise choice.

However even if he did that, it didn't mean that Yami would do the same.

"I went through a pretty rough time searching for this treasure, so I should take everything for myself. Why should I share it with others? So what if I've been found out? Without braving the risks, where would you get profit? That Gu master is really cowardly," Yami smiled coldly, no longer caring about the moving image that kept repeating on the stone wall. He turned around and stretched his hand, using his strength to pull apart the dead vines and roots.

The Flower Wine Monk's remains were also affected. It was originally intact, but right now it was being broken into several pieces. Yami could hardly care; he kicked away a piece of leg bone that was in the way and squatted again, searching through the remains.

Firstly he found a bag of primeval stones. When he opened them he only found fifteen pieces.

"Old miser," Yami spat. The Flower Wine Monk's outer appearance looked flashy, but unexpectedly he only had so little money put aside.

However he quickly thought of the reason – The Flower Wine Monk went through a fierce battle, add on to the fact that he got tainted by the Moonshadow Gu, so he would definitely have used primeval stones to heal his injuries. To be able to leave behind fifteen pieces was actually not bad already.

After that he found a few dead Gu remains. Most of them were flower and grass variety, and had all completely withered away. Gu are also living creatures, so they also need food to survive, and most of them are picky. Though the grass Gu and flower Gu need less food, but in this secret cave there was not even a single ray of sunshine.

And after that…

After that, there was nothing.

The Flower Wine Monk was on the same level as the fourth generation clan leader. After fighting a fierce battle, he fought with around ten elders right after. His own Gu were mostly consumed, and up to this stage as he wanted to heal his injuries, he grew the Wine Sack Flower Gu and the Rice Pouch Grass Gu here. Yet in the end because of the Moonshadow Gu he was dragged to death.

After three hundred year, the Gu in his possession also died away. The only ones left were the Photo-audio Gu on the wall and the Liquor worm.

This Liquor worm was probably reliant on the Wine Sack Flower Gu and barely lived through until today. But as the Wine Sack Flower Gu withered away one by one, it also lost its food supply.

This prompted the Liquor worm to go outside and look for wild Wine Sack Flowers. Then in this night, it was attracted by the aroma of the green bamboo wine and came before Yami.

"The Photo-audio Gu can only record once, since it's a one-time use Gu. Looks like the Liquor worm is my greatest gain here, no wonder that Gu Master decided to report to the clan. Looks like it was because the profit was too small, and not worth such a huge risk." A sort of understanding rose into Yami's heart.

In his memories, that Gu Master was already Rank three, while the Liquor worm was just a Rank one Gu. To Yami it was more precious, but to that Gu Master it was pretty much nothing.

However it was clear that due to his report, the clan gave him a big reward.

"Should I also tell the clan?" Yami thought for a moment, then he pushed away this idea.

The Flower Wine Monk's treasure seemed to be just the Liquor worm and the primeval stones, but that was not the case. The most valuable thing was actually the wall that hid the Photo-audio Gu. In other words, it was the moving image that did not stop repeating on the wall.

This image could entirely be sold to other villages. Trust in the fact that the top brass of the two other villages on Elemental Mountain must be very interested in this sort of evidence that could strike hard onto the conviction of a clan.

What?

You said something about a sense of loyalty and honour to the clan?

I'm so sorry, Yami does not have one bit of that.

Moreover this moving image isn't even some kind of strong force that can destroy the entire clan; it won't do much substantial damage. The indifferent nature of the clan will also not look at Yami with importance. He needed to rely on his own hard work and find cultivation resources, in the early stage of cultivation he needed to borrow the powers around him more.

"Count on the clan? Heh heh." Yami sneered in his heart, "Only a fool like Naruto would be so naive."

Do not depend on anyone; you must rely on yourself on everything in this world.

After making sure that he had ransacked every corner of the cave, Yami began his way back following the original road home.

Holding against the water pressure and squeezing past the boulder, he returned outside the mountain. Looking back at this huge boulder, Yami suddenly thought of his past life. It was said that the remains were found in an underground secret cave. But how was this place underground? It was clearly in the inside of the mountain wall.

No wonder he couldn't find it for seven days straight even though he wasted so much effort. Looks like in his past life after the clan found out about this place, the first thing they did was to destroy the wall with the image, and then go about spreading a truth riddled with lies to mislead the clanspeople.

To be able to find this place tonight was partly due to luck, partly due to hard work, and the biggest reason would be the green bamboo wine.

This green bamboo wine was really rich, it could be said to be the best in Elemental Mountain. Perhaps in his past life, after that Gu Master lost his lover, the wine that he had been drinking was this wine.

But all of this was no longer important. The Flower Wine Monk's treasure had been unearthed and ransacked by Yami; although in the end it was rather disappointing, it was also reasonable. The most important was that Yami's original goal (Liquor worm) was in his hands, and the item he needed the most (primeval stones) was also gotten.

"Next up, I will need to set my heart on holing myself in the inn refining this Gu. As long as I have a vital Gu I can return to the academy and be qualified to stay in the academy dormitories. I'll also be able to borrow the clan resources to cultivate. I can only stay in this inn for one or two times; if I stay too long the cost is too much." Yami pondered, his footsteps never ceasing as he hurried back to the village.

He was originally left with two primeval stones, but now he gained fifteen pieces, so the total is seventeen pieces. But to a Gu Master, this small amount of primeval stones meant nothing.

* * *

"With my C grade talent, the amount of my primeval sea in the aperture is only 44%. The speed of Gu using up primeval essence is way faster than my own recovery rate. If I want to refine a Gu I would need to borrow external help, which means I need to waste primeval stones."

"The weaker the Gu's will, the smaller the resistance, the easier it becomes for me to refine it. However any living creature will always have the will to live. To refine the Moonlight Gu I would at least require five primeval stones, at the most I'd need eight pieces."

"Right now to refine the Liquor worm, I would need at least eleven pieces, at the most I would need sixteen pieces." Although the Liquor worm was also a Rank one Gu like the Moonlight Gu, but it was definitely rarer. Thus the difficulty of the refinement process also increased.

In other words, even though right now Yami had seventeen primeval stones, but just to refine the Liquor worm he would at most be left with six pieces, or at least one primeval stone.

In the night, the bright crescent gave off clear and pure moonlight. The moonlight was like the lady saint's gentle hand, lightly stroking over the Konoha Village. Along the way the bamboo houses were like jade, standing in great numbers. The night breeze blew slowly.

Under this moonlight, Yami found his way back to the inn. The inn door had already closed. Yami banged on the door.

"I hear you! I hear you! Who is it, knocking on the door at this late time…" The inn worker grumbled as he opened the door, his eyes puffy from sleep.

But when he saw Yami standing at the door, all the displeasure and sleepiness from his expression changed, and he bent his waist and said with a flattering smile," "Ah, it's his young lordship. This little one is very lucky to be able to open the door for his lordship."

Yami nodded his head, his expression cold with indifference, and walked into the inn.

His expression made the worker laugh in a more humble manner, and he took the initiative to ask, "My lord, are you hungry? Would you like me to notify the kitchens and make some small dishes for you as supper?"

"No need," Yami shook his head and only ordered, " Go and prepare some hot water for me, I would like to wash myself."

"Yes!" The worker immediately nodded, "My lord, go on to your room first. I guarantee you, the hot water will be sent over immediately."

Yami let out a noise of approval and went up the stairs, heading towards the second floor. The worker watched Yami's back, his two eyes glittering in the light, revealing an expression of jealousy.

"This is a Gu Master, oh if only I had the talent to cultivate, how good that would be!" He shook his fists, sighing deeply. These words floated into Yami's ears and he smiled bitterly in his heart.

A Gu Master had the power to transcend mortals, becoming a man above men, but in this process the price that was to be paid was also very high.

The first difficult problem was financial resources. A Gu Master needed primeval stones to cultivate, battles also required primeval stones, refining Gu also needed primeval stones, trading was also not an exception.

Without primeval stones, how could cultivation be possible?

This point was a difficult position that, being an ordinary mortal who watched from the sidelines, the inn worker would not understand.

Just like earlier in the evening, the young Gu Master Jiro vented his anger and displeasure on the hunters when he dropped their wine jars. His meaning was – He himself could not bear to spend primeval stones to drink this green bamboo wine, yet these hunters who were just ordinary men actually had such money to spare!

To take a glimpse at the whole picture, just that meaning alone could tell a lot about the cultivation situation of a Gu Master. The strength of a Gu Master was great, they achieved more than a common mortal, but the price was also great. Many a time using every single piece of primeval stone needed great consideration, especially when it came to lower ranked Gu Masters. Do not be fooled by the glorious surface; in reality the life of a Gu Master is constantly strained by money.

"Not to mention, as the realm of a Gu Master increases, the resources they require also increase. Without proper backing it is very difficult for a Gu Master's road to cultivation." Yami thought of his previous life and had deep understanding of this reality.

He returned to his room. Just after he lit the lamp, the inn worker came up with a basin of hot water. Of course, there were cloth towels and other toiletries.

Yami let the worker leave and closed the room door. He put down the door latch, washed himself and got up to his bed.

Although his body was feeling a little tired, his heart still flared with a surge of excitement. "I finally got my hands on the Liquor worm. The Liquor worm is rarer than the Moonlight Gu, because in a sense it is a Gu that increases a Gu Master's latent talent!"

Yami sat cross-legged on the bed and took out the Liquor worm. The Liquor worm was still sleeping soundly. Its body size was slightly bigger than the Moonlight Gu, soft and white like a silkworm.

Under the light its body was shrouded in a layer of faint wavering light, just like a pearl's mellow luster. Two little eyes resembling two black sesame seeds were mounted on its chubby white head, making it appear charmingly naïve.

Placed in his hand, it was not heavy. Its weight was about half a chicken egg. When smelling it carefully, its body exuded a whiff of wine aroma. This fragrance was not the aroma of green bamboo wine but the Liquor worm's own fragrance. The smell was faint and misty, as if it was not there. Yami's nose twitched as he inhaled the fragrance of the Liquor worm.

The wine fragrance moved straight downwards into the aperture, entering into the green copper primeval sea. The primeval sea surged and rippled for a moment, quickly absorbing in the wine. A gleam of pure and refined primeval essence was produced.

The other primeval essence had an emerald green color, shining with a metallic copper luster. However this primeval essence was a pale green, and it was more condensed than the original primeval essence. This was the primeval essence that a Rank one middle stage Gu Master could produce.

Aware of this gleam of pale green primeval essence in his green copper sea, Yami revealed a satisfied smile. "Right now my cultivation base is just that of a Rank one initial stage. But with the Liquor worm's condensing, after the primeval essence is refined I will be able to have Rank one middle realm primeval essence. The beauty of this benefit is something that cannot be said in one or two sentences."

But very soon, he took back his smile. "However right now I have yet to fully master the Liquor worm. It is only when I refine the Liquor worm and turn it into my vital Gu, then I will be able to freely use it and later on with maximum efficiency, refine my primeval essence."

Thinking up to this point, he no longer hesitated and began to draw out a jet of green copper primeval essence from his primeval sea. The primeval essence tightly wrapped around the Liquor worm, bringing it into the air before Yami, and started to invade its body.

The Liquor worm felt its life at danger and woke up immediately. It began to struggle violently, using its own power to drive out Yami's primeval essence.

"This Liquor worm has a really strong resistance." Yami's complexion turned grave as he felt the consumption rate of his primeval essence go beyond more than double of what the Moonlight Gu had consumed.

"No matter what, I have to refine the Liquor worm." His two eyes flashed with a firm light as he continued pouring primeval essence into the Liquor worm.

In the room, the candles on the table quietly burned, shining a bright light in the middle of the room while the far corners of the walls were dark. The candlelight radiated on Yami's face but he had already closed his eyes, gathering all his focus onto the Liquor worm.

A continuous jet of green-copper coloured primeval essence that resembled a jet of mist emitted out from Yami's whole body, then it gathered together and firmly wrapped around the Liquor worm. The Liquor worm hovered in the air, its distance less than a feet away from Yami's face. It struggled with all its might in the midst of the green copper primeval essence.

Time slipped away quietly.

As the candles burned they became smaller and the light grew dimmer. The crescent outside the window had slowly gone down, and then a new day arrived.

The morning light squeezed through the narrow crack in the window and shone into the room. It was like the window had a light edge.

Yami opened his eyes and looked at the Liquor worm in front of him. The Liquor worm's white body had a shade of green colour. This was the result of Yami's effort after half a night. However it was clear that this volume of green colour was not even 1% of the Liquor worm's body.

Yami's face looked grave. This Liquor worm's will was way too tenacious and its resistance was incredibly strong; simply put this was beyond a Rank one Gu's boundary.

"This Gu was most probably the Flower Wine Monk's vital Gu. The Flower Wine Monk was a Rank five master, so this Liquor worm was originally Rank five, but because it went through all those years without enough food, pretty much full in one moment and starving in the next, so its grade also fell. Right now it is left at the level of Rank one, yet its will is still as tough as a rock!"

Yami had guessed the truth.

This Liquor worm was originally the Flower Wine Monk's vital Gu. Its original will had been wiped clean and refined to the end; it had accompanied the Flower Wine Monk throughout all his battles, passing through the underground world.

After the Flower Wine Monk died, his strong will continued existing in the Liquor worm. Right now with Yami trying to refine the Liquor worm, it actually meant fighting against the Flower Wine Monk's will.

This was way more difficult than trying to refine a natural Gu.

A human's will is generally stronger than a natural Gu. When facing death humans were able to produce strength that even they themselves could not imagine. Not to mention that the Flower Wine Monk was a master of the Demonic faction. He came and went by himself, going up and down the underground world. His will was more tenacious than the masters of his level from the Righteous faction.

"To refine this Liquor worm in a month is impossible, unless there is a strong master who can use a Rank two or Rank three Gu's breath to pressure this Liquor worm and suppress the will inside the worm's body to the lowest limit. Under this kind of help then will I be able to do twice as much with half the effort." As he pondered, Yami could not help but sigh.

His parents had died while his aunt and uncle were plotting against him. He himself did not have any backing, so where could he possibly find external aid?

If he had A grade talent there might still be a chance, but he was only a C grade talent. Everyone in the clan were not optimistic about him, so who would be willing to expend such energy to come and help him?

More crucially, he could not expose the existence of the Liquor worm.

There was no Liquor worm in the Konoha Village, and Yami was not able to explain about the origins of this Liquor worm. If it was exposed, there was a huge possibility that the top brass would find out and link it to the case of the Flower Wine Monk. It was too easy to think of a relationship between the two.

"Based on this fact, seventeen primeval stones will not be enough. I'd need at least thirty primeval stones! How troublesome, but no matter how hard it is I will still want to refine this Liquor worm." Yami's own will was like metal, and he was already determined to refine the Liquor worm.

The importance of the vital Gu was huge. It would greatly influence the future of a Gu Master's cultivation direction. Although the Liquor worm was not the world's best choice for a vital Gu, it was still much better than the Moonlight Gu. It was also the best option in Yami's present situation.

Growl…

At this moment Yami's stomach came up with a cry of protest.

After a whole night without sleep and putting full effort into refining the Liquor worm, Yami was naturally hungry.

"I guess I'll go and fill my stomach first and think of a way to accumulate primeval stones." Yami rubbed his belly and went downstairs. He went to the cafeteria and picked a seat at the corner, ordering a few kinds of breakfast dishes.

Just as he was beginning to eat, his younger brother Naruto appeared.

"Big brother, why are you staying at the inn, why didn't you go back home and sleep last night?" His brother was very straightforward, his tone carrying the implication that it was demanding for an explanation.

* * *

Faced with his brother's question, Yami did not speak; he continued eating his breakfast. He knew his younger brother's character – Naruto was not someone who could keep his composure.

Sure enough Naruto saw that his older brother did not even bat an eye at him, as if Yami pretended he was air. In the next moment he called out in a tone full of unhappiness, "Big brother, what did you do to Sakura? Ever since she came out from your room yesterday, she cried all over the place. When I comforted her, she cried even more."

Yami looked up at his younger brother, his face expressionless. Naruto frowned, staring firmly at his older brother, waiting for his reply.

The atmosphere was growing tense.

But Yami just looked at him for a second before he lowered his head and continued eating.

The younger brother Naruto was immediately flustered. Yami's attitude was clearly an undisguised contempt towards him. Under shame and frustration he banged his hand on the table, roaring loudly, "Yami, how can you act like this! Sakura as a servant girl has served you for so many years; I have seen her gentleness and care towards you. Yes, I know you feel lost, and I can understand your dejected feelings. Yeah you're just a C grade talent, but it doesn't mean you can vent your anger on others just because of your own misfortune. This isn't fair to her!"

He had barely finished when Yami stood up, raising his hand in a flash.

Slap!

With a loud snap he gave Naruto a solid smack.

Naruto covered his right cheek, stumbling two steps backwards, his face full of shock.

"Useless bastard, what kind of tone are you using to talk to your own older brother?! That Sakura is just a servant girl! Just because of a lowly girl like her you would forget that I am your older brother?" Yami reprimanded in a low voice.

Naruto finally reacted, his stinging pain on his face surging through his nervous system in waves. He stared wide-eyed, his breathing rough as he said in disbelief, "Big brother, you hit me? From the time I was still young until I grew up, you have never hit me before! Yes, I was found out to be an A grade talent, you were just C grade. But you also cannot blame me for it, this is all the arrangement of heaven…"

Slap!

Naruto had not finished speaking, yet Yami used the back of his hand and smacked him again.

Naruto covered both his cheeks with his two hands. He was stunned.

"Naïve fool, do you still remember! From young till now, how did I take care of you? When our parents died, our life was hard. During New Year, aunt and uncle only gave us both one new robe, did I wear it? Who did I give it to wear? When you were small you loved to eat sweet porridge, I would tell the kitchens to make another bowl for you everyday. When you were bullied by others, who brought you back? Not to mention a ton of other things that I don't feel is worth talking about. Well, right now because of a maid, you would talk to me like this, coming to question me?"

Naruto's face was red. His lips trembled, ashamed and annoyed, as well as surprised and angry. Yet he was unable to say a single word of rebuttal.

Because everything Yami said was the truth!

"Whatever." Yami sneered, "Since you even gave up your own biological parents and admitted someone else, what am I worth to you, as merely your big brother?"

"Big brother, how can you say that. You also know that I have always longed for the warmth of a family since I was young, I…" Naruto immediately explained.

Yami waved his hand, stopping his brother from continuing. "From today onwards, you are not my little brother, and I am no longer your older brother."

"Big brother!" Naruto was surprised, opening his mouth to say more.

At this moment Yami spoke, "Don't you like Sakura? Don't worry; I didn't do anything to her. She's still a virgin, untouched and pure. Pass me six primeval stones and I'll pass her to you, from today onwards she can be your personal maid."

"Big brother, why are you…" To have his inner thoughts revealed out loud so suddenly, Naruto felt a surge of panic, feeling rather unprepared.

But at the same time his heart was assured. The one thing he was worried about the most did not come true.

Not long ago in the night, Sakura personally served and washed him.

Even though nothing important happened, Naruto could not ever forget the gentleness of that night. Every time when he thought of Sakura, he would remember her skillful hands and her soft red lips, and his heart would throb.

The sincere feelings of youthfulness had long planted itself in the young man's chest, starting to grow.

Thus when he learned about Sakura's unusual state last evening, a bout of anger immediately burst from his heart. He instantly gave up refining his Moonlight Gu and turned the village inside out trying to find Yami, wanting to make a statement.

Seeing Naruto not replying, Yami frowned and said, "Love is very normal, be more honest. There's no use hiding away. Of course, if you don't want to exchange, then that's fine."

Naruto was anxious on the spot. "I'll exchange! Why would I not exchange. But the primeval stones on me are not enough for six anymore."

As he said this, he took out his money pouch, his face red all over.

Yami took the pouch and found six pieces in it, but one of the stones among them was smaller than a normal primeval stone by half size. He immediately knew that Naruto had absorbed the primeval essence from this stone to speed up the process of refining his Moonlight Gu. After all the more natural essence gets absorbed from the primeval stone, the smaller the stone becomes, and its weight will also become lighter.

Even though it was just five pieces and a half, Yami knew: These were all the primeval stones that Naruto had in his possession right now. Naruto had no savings on his own, and these six primeval stones were what Aunt and Uncle had given to him not long ago.

"I'll keep these, you can go now." Yami's expression was cold as he tucked the bag away.

"Big brother…" Naruto wanted to say more.

Yami raised his eyebrows slightly, speaking in a slow and leisure manner, "Before I change my mind, you better disappear from my eyes."

Naruto felt his heart tighten. He gritted his teeth, and finally turned and left. When he stepped through the doorway of the inn, he subconsciously covered his chest with his hand, feeling a wave of uneasiness. There was a feeling that was telling him that he had just lost something very important.

But very quickly he felt hot as he thought of Sakura, and that dreamy night. "I can finally have you rightfully as mine, Sakura." He did not look back, and walked out of Yami's sight.

Yami stood expressionless; he stood for a long time, then he finally slowly sat down.

The bright sunlight passed through the window, shining onto his indifferent face, making those who saw this feel somewhat cold inside. The business in the cafeteria was rather poor, and the streets grew busier with people. The noise and excitement from the bustling crowd travelled over, making the place feel quieter. The dishes grew cold. A worker came up attentively, asking if Yami would like to reheat his breakfast.

Yami did not hear it. His gaze kept shifting like a cloud, as if he was reminiscing some old memories. The worker waited for a while. But as he saw Yami in a trance, never saying a single word, he could only rub his nose and walk away bitterly.

After a long time, Yami's eyes became focused again. The past memories in his heart were like smoke; they had already dispersed away.

He returned to reality once more. The sunlight that flowed in shone over half the table. The hot air that wafted out of the dishes had already disappeared, and the bustling noise of the crowd on the streets travelled into his ears.

He reached into his robes and patted the five-and-a-half primeval stones at his bosom, his mouth curling into a bitter and mocking smile. But the smile was quickly cast away.

"Waiter, go and reheat these dishes for me." Yami took a look at his dishes and faintly opened his mouth, shouting away. At this moment his eyes looked so chilly.

"What! Your older brother really said that?" In the hall, Uncle frowned, his voice cold. Aunt sat aside, looking speechlessly at the fresh red handprint on Naruto's cheeks.

"Yes, when I met big brother, he was at the inn eating breakfast. The entire thing went like this," Naruto replied politely.

Uncle's frown deepened, all condensed into 3 black lines.

After a few breaths he sighed and said in a solemn tone, "Naruto my child, you must remember this. The maidservant Sakura is not Yami's personal property; we assigned her to him. How can he use her as a trading item? If you wished for it, you should have told us earlier on. We would just assign her to you."

"Ah?" Naruto was stunned as he listened to this.

Uncle waved his hand. "You can take your leave. You gave all your primeval stones to Yami, so I'll just give you another six. Remember, use them properly on refining your Gu and seize number one. We will be very proud of you when you do."

"Father, your child is ashamed…" Naruto was suddenly moved to tears. Uncle sighed and replied, "Just go, hurry back to your room and refine your Gu. You don't have much time left."

When Naruto took his leave, Uncle's face revealed a ferocious and angry expression.

Bang!

He hit the table with his palm using great force, hissing, "Hmph, this damn bastard. He actually took our workers to do an exchange, he's really cunning!"

Aunt advised, "Husband, calm your anger. It's just six primeval stones."

"What do you understand, woman! This Yami is only a C grade talent, if he wants to refine the MoonlightGu he would need primeval stones. With his weak experience of a first timer, six primeval stones won't be enough to refine it. But now that he has twelve pieces, it will be more than sufficient." Uncle was so furious he gritted his teeth.

He added, "A Gu Master's cultivation will very swift as long as there are enough resources and no obstacles. In two or three years, the clan will be able to produce a Rank two Gu Master. The lower Yami's cultivation rank, the smaller his hopes of trying to seize the family inheritance one year later. Right now he is still young, just starting to cultivate. We shall hinder him and let his starting process fall behind those at his age. The academy resources are always awarded to excellent students. With his latent talent, once he falls back he won't be able to get any resources. Without the help of resources his cultivation will fall even further. With this vicious cycle, I would like to see if he has the ability to inherit the family inheritance a year later!"

Aunt did not understand. "Even if we do not stop him, he would at most be at Rank one Middle stage a year later. Husband, your cultivation is at Rank two, why are you still afraid of him?"

Uncle was so angry he stomped and said, "Woman, you really are a case of 'long hair but short insight'! With just my identity as the senior, should I really beat down the younger generation? If he wants to get back the inheritance, it is reasonable and cannot be stopped directly; I can only fight back using the clan rules. It is stated in the clan rules: To be head of the house at sixteen years old, the person must have at least Rank one middle stage cultivation. Otherwise it means that Yami will have no right to waste the clan resources. After I have said this, do you understand now?"

Aunt was enlightened.

Mizuki narrowed his eyes, a glint in his gaze. He shook his head a little, sighing as he said, "Yami is just too smart, too cunning. He could even see through a power play. What kind of intellect is this? Scheming and calculating at such a young age, how terrorizing! Initially I was going to continue plotting against him, yet he moved out straight away. I wanted to further rely on Sakura to monitor and trouble him, but in the end he went away and even earned six primeval stones."

"Alas, if he could be as stupid as Naruto, that would've been great. Oh right, from today onwards you must treat Naruto better. He is an A grade talent after all. Not to mention I can see that he has feelings of dissatisfaction and unhappiness towards Yami. These emotions are a good thing; they must be guided properly. I have a sort of feeling that he will become the best tool to deal with Yami in future!"

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

In the room at the inn, there were no lights. The moonlight poured in, casting a color of frost. On the bed Yami sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. He moved his green copper primeval essence, concentrating his mind on refining the Liquor worm. On its body, a small cut had already been dyed the green color of green copper, but the Liquor worm's will was still as tenacious as ever. It constantly struggled in the midst of the ethereal primeval essence.

Yami's refining process was not going smoothly. It was very difficult.

"I spent two days and two nights, only resting two hours each day, and I spent twelve pieces of primeval stone but only managed to refine around 1/15 of progress. Calculating according to the time, I guess someone will succeed in refining their Gu in these few days."

Yami could see the situation clearly. However his talent was a poor grade anyway, add on the Liquor worm that he was trying to refine having an incredibly tenacious will to live; it was even stronger than a normal Moonlight Gu. The resulting situation of falling behind was normal.

"A moment of falling behind is nothing, as long as I have the Liquor worm…" Yami's heart was clear like a mirror, not a single trace of anxiety and discouragement in him. Suddenly, the Liquor worm curled up into a ball.

"Oh no, the Liquor worm is counterattacking!" Yami instantly opened his eyes, a hint of astonishment in his gaze. Before him, the Liquor worm had curled into a round little dumpling, fiercely giving out a blinding white light.

It was risking everything in this one last stand!

At once Yami felt a strong will coming out from the Liquor worm's body, flowing directly through the primeval essence and descending into the primeval sea in his aperture.

The situation where a Gu counterattacked was incredibly rare. Only Gu with extremely strong will would give their all, it was either success or death. In the face of such a scenario, the usual teenager would be panicking right now.

Though he was surprised, Yami did not panic; in fact he was somewhat delighted. "Staking everything in one last attempt, this is also a good thing. As long as I can handle this counterattack, the Liquor worm's will shall greatly weaken. However I need to put full focus into fighting back against this will, I cannot receive even the slightest outside interference. Or else that would be bad, sigh… But I hope no one will come and disturb me during this period."

His thoughts finalized, he was ready to gather the primeval essence in his aperture, ready to accept the Liquor worm's will. He would be entangled with it and fight it 300 rounds.

But at this moment, a miraculous event happened!

In the middle of his aperture, just above the sea high in the air, a Gu appeared.

Boom!

A mighty strong breath erupted from this Gu.

This breath was like the Milky Way pouring out, and floodwater rushing down from the mountains. Yet, it was also like a dreadful beast whose dignity was offended that opened its scarlet red eyes and looked around to see who would dare to violate its territory!

"This is the Spring Autumn Cicada?!" Seeing this Gu, Yami was completely shocked!


	4. A True Hero Knows When To Hold Back

**A True Hero Knows When To Hold Back**

During the process of refining, the Gu counterattacked!

At this time, the Liquor worm that had inherited the Flower Wine Monk's extremely strong will invaded his aperture, brazenly counterattacking at Yami.

This strong willpower descended from above, surging down towards the bottom of the aperture where the green copper primeval sea was. The waves in the sea tumbled, setting off bursts of high tide. Under Yami's will, large amounts of primeval essence rose upwards to the sky and gathered together, forming a towering monster wave, brazenly accepting the incoming Liquor worm's will.

Just as both sides were about to collide viciously in the middle of the aperture, a faint image of a Gu worm emerged in a blank area between the two energies.

This was a cicada. The cicada's body was not large; if the Moonlight Gu was described as a blue crystal shaped like a curved moon, then this cicada would be a delicate craftwork that was made from palm wood and tree leaves by a master craftsman.

The Gu sported a brownish yellow head and abdomen. Its surface had the texture of a tree's growth rings, as if it had witnessed countless years. On its back were two very wide and translucent wings, like two tree leaves overlapping. The wings had similar structure; this structure was like a typical net-vein leaf. The center had a coarse stem, and from this stem sprouted out a network vein of leaf lines on both sides.

The Spring Autumn Cicada!

It had been startled. It was just like a giant beast, usually hiding in its cave in a deep sleep. But suddenly it was awakened, furthermore learning that its territory had been violated.

Who dares to come into my turf and act wildly!

As if its dignity was offended, the Spring Autumn Cicada was angry and let out a whiff of aura; the aura was weak yet powerful. It was like the surging Milky Way, rolling forth with vast and mighty waves; it would sweep across mountains for ten thousands of miles, or submerge a broad desert!

To be compared to this aura, the Liquor worm's will was like the case of an ant meeting an elephant!

The aura swept around and expanded, just like a raised invisible tsunami. The invading will of the Liquor worm did not even have the ability to withstand it; it was immediately swallowed whole by this aura.

Yami felt depressed. The green copper primeval essence that he had thrust forward with his might collided with this aura like it was a wave crashing onto a great mountain. In a moment the condensed primeval essence disintegrated and dispersed into rain, scattering down to the primeval sea.

The waves on the primeval sea rose one after another; it was like a rainstorm had just swept across, increasing its turbulence.

But after a few seconds, the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura spread down, pressing onto the primeval sea.

Boom!

Yami felt like he heard a buzz. In an instant, the rolling waves on the sea calmed down. The Spring Autumn Cicada's aura firmly repressed the entire primeval sea, just like an invisible mountain pressing down. The surface of the sea was calm like a mirror, not a single wave rolling about. It was like an originally crumpled piece of paper; a boundless giant hand covering over it suddenly, flattening it.

This was easily an incomparable power!

Yami felt a pressure weighing like an enormous invisible mountain pressing down on his heart. He compared it to Sun Wukong being pressed down by the Five Elements Mountain; Yami could not even mobilize a single pint of primeval essence.

However although he was shocked, he was not afraid. In fact his heart felt great joy.

"I didn't think the Spring Autumn Cicada would actually follow me and be reborn together! So it's actually not a one-time use Gu worm, but one that can be used again repeatedly."

The Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank six grade, and it was the first Rank six Gu in Yami's previous life, as well as his last. Just to make it, Yami had used all means and resources, wasting an incredible amount of strength, using thirty years of fermenting to finally succeed.

But not long after he succeeded, when the Spring Autumn Cicada was still fresh from the oven, warriors of the Righteous faction felt Yami's threat and gathered together to attack and kill him.

After being reborn, Yami did not find the Spring Autumn Cicada, so he thought it had died. But in reality it had fallen into a deep sleep, resting inside Yami's body.

To travel back five hundred years in an instant was a huge blow to its vitality. It was too weak, so weak that even Yami as its master could not feel it. Right now even though the Spring Autumn Cicada had appeared, its situation was still bad.

After being reborn it had always been resting in a deep sleep. To appear right now was because it had felt the danger that the aperture was facing; it could be said that the Liquor worm's will had awakened it.

It was weak, very weak, extremely weak.

In Yami's memories, the original Spring Autumn Cicada was full of vitality. Its body was like a precious floorboard, giving out a warm and glossy varnish. Its two wings were verdant green, like two soft tree leaves that had just freshly sprouted.

But right now, there was a strong and deathly chill emanating from the body of the cicada. There was no shine or gloss from its body, making it feel rough and dim like dead wood. Its wings were not the colour of soft and green leaves; they were fully yellow, just like the withering leaves of autumn. The tips of its wings were slightly rolled up, a little incomplete, just like the corner of fallen leaves.

Seeing this, Yami felt both distressed and lucky. He was distressed because the Spring Autumn Cicada suffered such a heavy blow; it was barely a step away from death, just a foot away from the edge of a cliff.

The fortunate thing was, thank heavens the Spring Autumn Cicada was weak to this point, or else he would be in great trouble!

One must know, between a Gu Master and a Gu, both must complement each other, the best would be both having the same rank.

A Rank one Gu Master should use a Rank one Gu – this was the most appropriate. If the Gu's grade was lower than the Gu Master, when the Gu Master uses it, it would be the equivalent of a strong man carrying a small stick, the strength output would be small. If the Gu's grade was higher than the Gu Master, when the Gu Master uses it, it would be the example of a small child carrying a heavy axe, unable to wield it properly.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank six Gu, and Yami was just a Rank one initial stage Gu Master. To use an image as example, the Spring Autumn Cicada would be a mountain, and Yami would be a squirrel. If the squirrel wanted to use the mountain to beat its enemy, the squirrel would just be squashed flat by the mountain at the first second.

If the Spring Autumn Cicada was at its peak state, Yami's weak Rank one aperture could not even tolerate it; the majestic aura of the cicada would just make the aperture burst to death.

Fortunately it was at its weakest state, so Yami's aperture could accommodate it right now.

"I gave up the Moonlight Gu, going through all the lengths to find the Liquor worm just to refine it into my vitalGu. But in reality I already had a vital Gu from the start, the Spring Autumn Cicada is my vital Gu!" Yami's heart was filled with emotion as he felt the close connection between him and the Spring Autumn Cicada.

The vital Gu is the first Gu that a Gu Master refines. It is terribly important, and would affect the future development of a Gu Master by a large extent.

If a vital Gu is well picked, the Gu Master's development will become smoother. When the vital Gu is of a poor grade, to a Gu Master it would just drag down his cultivation and let peers surpass him. The more important thing is that it would affect the matter of life and death in a battle.

Yami was clear on this point, so he was not satisfied after choosing the Konoha village's signature Moonlight Gu. He just had to go all the way to find the Liquor worm.

In his memory to a Rank one Gu Master, the Liquor worm was already considered a high quality pick. The Moonlight Gu was just a choice that was slightly above average.

But life is fascinating, because no one will ever know what is waiting for him or her at the next moment.

Yami had refined the Spring Autumn Cicada in his previous life. After his rebirth the Spring Autumn Cicada fell into a deep sleep, but the connection between them still existed. In fact Yami found that, as if going through the refinement of the River of Time, his connection with the Spring Autumn Cicada had grown even closer and mysterious than his previous life. It was just because the Spring Autumn Cicada was too weak, so Yami was not aware of it.

Therefore in the real sense, the Spring Autumn Cicada is the first Gu that he had refined. The only thing was that the Spring Autumn Cicada was not refined in his current life, but the result of hard work in his previous life of 500 years.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was Yami's vital Gu.

A Rank one Gu Master, having a Rank six vital Gu!

If this sort of thing was said out loud, it is expected that no one would believe such a thing! This has already broken the limits of human cognition!

But yet, that is exactly what happened. The truth is beyond doubt.

"The Liquor worm as a vital Gu is already one of the best choices, but when you compare it to the Spring Autumn Cicada, it is just like scum on the ground! My vital Gu in this life is actually the Spring Autumn Cicada, ha ha ha…."

* * *

The immense joy he felt did not overcome his mind; he quickly calmed down and started to consider the consequences that the Spring Autumn Cicada would bring to him:

"The Spring Autumn Cicada's ability is rebirth. But right now it is at its weakest state, at the instant I use it, it'll die. However it is still a Rank six Gu, so I can totally use its aura. This won't do any damage to its body."

"Hee hee hee." After he finished pondering, he closed his thoughts and opened his eyes. The Liquor worm was hovering before him, shivering in the midst of the smoke-like green copper primeval essence that had surrounded it.

Earlier because it wanted a chance to survive, desperation drove the Liquor worm risk everything on a single throw. Yet in the end its will was easily defeated by the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura. Due to this it suffered a heavy blow, its current strength not even 1% of the original will it had.

"Spring Autumn Cicada." With a simple thought, Yami released a small trace of the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura. This aura pressured onto the Liquor worm's body; the Liquor worm immediately stood still, motionless like a dead creature. Its scattered will felt the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura; like a mouse that had run into a cat, it was frightened. It shrank into a ball and was too afraid to move even a slight bit.

Yami laughed and took the opportunity to mobilize his primeval essence. In the beginning when he tried using his green copper primeval essence to refine it, the Liquor worm's will resisted fiercely, so it could only expand arduously bit by bit. But right now Yami's green copper primeval essence drove straight in, flowing vigorously without resistance. There was no obstruction at all.

The green copper colour on the surface of the Liquor worm rapidly expanded. In a few winks, the once pearl-white Liquor worm was fully dyed green.

The general situation had passed; the last remains of the Liquor worm's will was finally washed away easily by Yami's will, dissolving into nothingness.

With that, the Liquor worm was fully refined!

Compared to the beginning where Yami had to endure hardship akin to trampling mountains and crossing ravines, the refining process right now was as easy as swallowing saliva.

A kind of mysterious and cordial feeling connected the Liquor worm and Yami together. The refined Liquor worm was like a part of Yami – If Yami told it to huddle up, it would curl; if he told it to curl into a ball it would curl into a round little dumpling. The feeling was like moving his own finger.

Yami took back his primeval essence, and the Liquor worm returned to its fat and white state. Then with a leap, it went through thin air and plunged into the middle of Yami's aperture. When it was inside, the Liquor worm flew a distance away around the hovering Spring Autumn Cicada and entered the green copper primeval sea. On the sea surface the Liquor worm stretched its body arbitrarily; occasionally it would twist around its chubby waist, appearing comfortable as if it were bathing in a hot shower.

"With the Spring Autumn Cicada, my plans will have to change." Yami gathered his mind away from the aperture and took out the Moonlight Gu. He repeated what he did earlier: Letting out a hint of the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, pressing it down on the Moonlight Gu.

As it felt the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, the Moonlight Gu's will immediately surrendered, its fear so great its will could only turtle up in the furthest corner of its own body.

Yami's primeval essence poured in. In the blink of an eye, the Moonlight Gu was dyed a jade green colour. Finally with just a simple thought, the Moonlight Gu's will was easily strangled.

After he was done he took back his primeval essence and the Moonlight Gu returned to its original, semi-transparent, blue crystal form. He put away the Moonlight Gu; it did not enter his aperture, but instead directly dropped onto his forehead, forming a pale blue crescent mark in the middle of his brow.

The entire refining process of the Moonlight Gu from beginning to end did not take more than five minutes. Comparing the start of his difficult refining process to the situation right now, the speed was rapid and created a sharp contrast.

Not only was it very fast, the consumption of primeval essence was also very little.

For the past few days, Yami had consumed six pieces of primeval stones just to refine the Liquor worm. But tonight, while Yami could see the bottom of the primeval sea in his aperture, he did not use a single stone.

"Ha ha, with the Spring Autumn Cicada at hand, it is as easy as having a god's help! After today all I just need to do is use its aura to pressure down, any Rank one Gu will be easily refined. Even though I only have C grade talent, I don't need to borrow the help of primeval stones. The difference of before and now is like heaven and earth."

Yami's mood was joyous. Right now his situation was like pushing away the mist and cloud to see the blue skies.

Although the Spring Autumn Cicada was at its weakest point, it was still a Rank six Gu. A fallen tiger still leaves behind threat; a festered ship still has three pounds of nails . Just relying on its aura, Yami's cultivation from today onwards would receive a huge driving force.

At this moment, the moon outside the window was bright and the stars were few. The moonlight flowed through the window, shining on Yami's face.

"Initially I thought I wouldn't be able to get number one, but the road twisted and turned unexpectedly. Time waits for no one! I must go to the academy now and receive the top prize!" Yami's eyes glistened.

With a thought the Spring Autumn Cicada faded away from view and disappeared once more, returning to its deep slumber. Then he called out the Liquor worm and hid it away at a corner of his bed. This was to prevent the academy's unnecessary examination.

Fifteen minutes later, in the clan academy.

The academy elder had long gone to bed, but in his dreams he could vaguely hear the sound of somebody knocking on the door. He was awoken by the noise and he opened his eyes, rather displeased. "Who is it outside there in the middle of the night?"

Instantly a voice replied in a respectful tone, "Reporting to sir elder! It is a student from this year's batch; he has already finished refining the Moonlight Gu. You have instructed your subordinates earlier to report to you the very instant the first name appears, no matter what time it is."

"Well… Its true that happened." The academy elder frowned, and then he got off his bed. As he put on his robes he asked, "Which student is it that got number one this year? Is it Naruto Uzumaki?"

The subordinate outside the door replied, "It seems so. The moment I heard the news I hurried over here to tell you about it, sir. It seems to be someone from the Fang family branch."

"Hehe, counting the time, it is probably him." The academy elder laughed lightly, confidently saying, "Who else could it be besides the A grade talent genius? All those B grade talent students would still be worse even with the help of primeval stones. Or else why would the grade of cultivation talent be so important?"

As he said this he pushed the door open and came out. Outside the door, his subordinate respectfully bowed, moving two steps backwards. "Sir is right," he echoed.

In the hall, ten candles or so burned together, brightening up the hall. The man who had received Yami had already cleared up all doubts by now. Under the bright light of the candle fire, his face showed a stunned expression. "Wait, what did you just say? You are called Yami Uzumaki, not Naruto Uzumaki?"

Yami nodded. At this moment the elder walked in from the entrance. Yami and the man stood up and turned around to greet.

When the academy elder saw Yami, his face was full of smiles. He strode over and stood in front of Yami, patting his shoulder in a friendly manner. "You did well, Naruto Uzumaki, you did not disappoint me. You are indeed an A grade talent – genius! All those B grade, C grade peers of yours will never compare to you no matter how hard they try. Ha ha ha."

Yami and Naruto were twin brothers; their outer appearance was similar to a fault. Even the academy elder was mistaken.

Yami was neither haughty nor humble. He took a little step back, letting his shoulder free from the academy elder's hand. He stared at the academy elder, his hands folded behind his back. Then he said with a faint smile, "Sir elder, you have been mistaken. I am Yami Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki is my younger brother."

"Huh?" The academy elder opened his mouth slightly, his expression startled. He glared at Yami doubtfully, his brow turning into a frown. After a few breaths, he finally spoke. "You are Yami Uzumaki?"

"Correct sir," Yami replied.

"You have refined the Moonlight Gu?" The academy elder was extremely surprised. His two eyes glared firmly at Yami's crescent mark on his forehead. His eyes were shining; he was asking the obvious.

"Indeed, that is the case," Yami said.

"Then, you are first of your batch?" The academy elder was asking stupid questions, but he was not entirely at fault. After all, this situation was entirely out of everyone's expectations.

One must know that he had been in charge of the academy for decades and is extremely experienced. He had seen C grade talent students contending for number one before this, but it was never this early. Not to mention that in this batch there were peers with A and B grade talent.

"If there is no one earlier than me…" Yami pretended to be in deep thought, then he rubbed his nose and continued, "Then it seems like it."

The academy elder: "….."

* * *

The sky was not yet bright, and the sun had yet to rise. The east sky just began to turn bright, the dark colours in the sky slowly fading away, the smell of the night still remaining in the air.

The streets were empty, then came the sounds of quick footsteps. The early dawn mountain air was moist, yet Naruto Uzumaki did not feel the slightest cold rush; his heart was full of surging enthusiasm. His face blushed red, and now he was walking swiftly toward the academy.

"I have been cultivating hard these few days, spending two primeval stones. I did not sleep at all last night, and I've finally successfully refined the Moonlight Gu. I am an A grade talent and I was so hardworking. No one can be faster than me, no one! Father and mother, I told you I won't let you feel disappointed."

When he thought of the moment where he told his aunt and uncle about the good news earlier, they expressed happiness and relief, making Naruto feel a surge of joy and pride.

"Just wait, all you clanspeople who looked down on me, and big brother. From today onwards, I shall make you all look up to me, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The more he thought the more Naruto felt excited. He could not help but clench his fists, and his pace quickened a little more.

He came to the academy entrance.

The academy's two guards looked at him strangely. They asked him, "Umm, Yami Uzumaki, why are you back?"

"What, big brother was here just now?" When Naruto heard them, his face showed a hint of surprise and puzzlement.

"Ah, whatever!" He would never have guessed that Yami would snatch away number one. He shook his head and cupped his hands together, his tone carrying a trace of arrogance, "Two elder brothers, I am not Yami Uzumaki, but I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I have already successfully refined my vital Gu, and I am here to come and take the top prize."

"You are Naruto Uzumaki? You brothers are just too alike, no wonder the academy elder was mistaken," the guard on the left side shouted, his eyes widening. The guard on the right shook his head and said, "You came one step too late. Just last night in the late hour, your older brother Yami Uzumaki came and met with sir elder and took the top prize."

"My older brother!" Naruto suddenly opened his eyes wide, crying out, "Wait, you said he'd gotten number one?"

How can this be! Isn't his big brother a C grade talent?

Getting number one, this has to be a joke right?!

"It's true. How could we possibly joke around with this matter?" Seeing Naruto in disbelief, the guard seemed somewhat unhappy.

"This matter has been confirmed by the academy elder. In due course the name list will be released and announced. What's wrong, your older brother did not tell you about it?" The other guard added.

Naruto just stood silly at the door.

The truth was so much different from his imagination; right now he just could not understand what had just happened. In Naruto's heart, there were several illusions of his adversaries. Among them, the ones that brought the most threat were two – Kiba, and Shino Aburame.

These two were of B rank talent. Behind them were the clan's two largest family branches, and each of them had a grandfather that carried huge authority as elders, as well as sufficient financial power.

If any of these two people won first place over him, Naruto's heart and mind was still prepared. Even though he would feel a sense of loss, it was still acceptable.

But right now, the one who took away number one was not Kiba Inuzuka or Shino Aburame; it was not even any of the opponents in his heart.

But it was Yami Uzumaki, his older brother!

That person with a C grade talent!

That person who fell downhill and turned dejected after the Awakening Ceremony!

That person who slept soundly in class all day!

That person who was always heavily drunk and never turned home at night!

That person who bullied Sakura, slapped him twice, and took all his primeval stones away!

That person who always held him down, just like a shadow entrenched in his heart!

"How can it be like this? It can't be possible!" In a short while, Naruto roared in his heart, "I was so hardworking, but he just drank everyday until he became drunk, and yet in the end he was the one who got number one, is this even fair? Why? Why?!"

The sun rose from the east, the birds chirped around, and the overflowing air of spring took over Elemental Mountain.

Naruto Uzumaki bathed in the warm sunlight. He slowly lowered his head, gritting his teeth, looking at his own lonely shadow. The excitement in his heart had turned into a balloon that leaked air, long dissipating. Instead what took its place was the emotions of confusion, resentment, unwillingness, puzzlement, fear and other complicated feelings.

As time went by, the sun climbed higher.

The academy bulletin wall had posted a new name list, and on the list were just two names – firstly Yami, and then Naruto. Following the appearance of this list, the news gradually spread out.

After hearing the news, all those young students who had been bent on refining their Gu at home after receiving one were in an uproar.

"How can it be like this!"

"If it was Naruto who got number one I would still have believed it, but it's Yami, isn't he a C grade talent?"

"Could there have been a mistake, the A grade talent Naruto actually lost to the C grade talent Yami, is this a fairy tale?"

The Inuzuka branch family home.

The greenery in the courtyard was overflowing, the fragrance of tea dancing about.

One of the clan elders of the Konoha clan, Gaku Inuzuka was sitting in front of his desk, looking at the spring scenery outside his window. He leisurely drank his tea and said, "Kiba hasn't continued refining his Gu?"

The housekeeper standing at a side hurriedly replied, "After he heard about news concerning Yami in the afternoon, young master Kiba seemed to be deeply affected and has no mood to continue refining the Moonlight Gu. It is a pity, young master Kiba was just so close to succeeding. Actually, if Naruto got number one it could still be ignored, but it just has to be that C grade talent Yami. So young master Kiba lost his interest, it can't be helped."

"Hmph! Do not excuse him." Gaku Inuzuka snorted coldly, his face stern and his tone hard, "A Gu Master's cultivation process is full of hardship each step, what is a small setback like this? That Yami is just a C grade, so to be able to get number one it is presumably because of luck. The Moonlight Gu that he chose must have had a weak will, so that is how he could snatch the top. If Kiba can't see through this and let such a small setback get to him, then how is he supposed to be in charge of our Inuzuka family branch in future, how can he compete with the Aburame family branch? No one is allowed to advise him, let him think about it by himself!"

"Yes, master." The housekeeper did not dare refute.

Almost at the same time, in the home of the Aburame family branch.

"Sigh, Yami Uzumaki…" The clan elder Shibi Aburame gave a long sigh, his brows held down in a frown as he thought, waving his hand around. "Someone, call young master Shino over please."

In a moment, Shino Aburame walked into the room with a lost expression, kneeling down with respect, "Your grandson greets his grandpa."

"Seems like you already know about the news," Shibi Aburame stared at his only direct grandson, his tone gentle. He slowly said, "I called you over to prevent you from getting influenced by this matter. You see, when refining the vital Gu, firstly one looks at the talent, secondly at the Gu worm."

"Yami's talent is just C grade, yet he was able to gain number one this time. This means that the Gu he chose -compared to all the Moonlight Gu your peers have – has a will that is much weaker. This is entirely due to luck. So my grandson, do not be discouraged, this is nothing really. He is just a C grade talent, though he is the same as you, but his supply of resources is not as well as yours. His road to advancement will also be harder than yours, believe your grandpa, you will soon surpass him."

"Hence you should put away this trivial matter. Yami will not be your opponent, and is not worthy to be your adversary. Your real enemies are the A grade talent Naruto and the Inuzuka family's Kiba. Do you understand?"

"Yes, thank you for your advice, grandpa. I understand. I will go now and continue refining my Gu!" Shino Aburame had lost the sad expression on his face, replacing it with a high-spirited will to fight.

"Mmm." Elder Shibi Aburame nodded his head, satisfied. A kindly smile emerged from his face and he said, "Good grandson. While your talent is only C grade, but you can be rest assured that grandpa will fully support you. Later on, I will come out and use the aura of a Rank three Gu worm to suppress your Moonlight Gu's will and help you refine this Gu!"

* * *

The sky was blue and clear, looking pure as if it had been washed clean. The sun was shining golden.

Puffs of white clouds floated away, and a group of colourful peacock parrots chirped as they flew beneath the blue sky, forming an arrow formation under the clouds as they soared.

This variant of colourful parrots would only appear in large groups during springtime. Their bodies were littered with feathers the colour of the rainbow, their bodies the size of an eagle. The birds had parrot beaks, while their tails were that of a peacock's flowing long tail.

It had been ten days since the day Yami managed to acquire number one in the test to refine the vital Gu. The spring breeze blew over the whole mountain's green grass, while the wild flowers bloomed eagerly, and the bees and butterflies danced around together. Life was surging all around; it was the wonderful beauty of spring.

The breath of spring was so strong that the tall bamboo walls surrounding the training grounds could not hold it back.

This training field occupied 3 kilometers. The ground was flat, paved with a layer of thick and wide grey graphite. Its four sides were planted with green spear bamboo; these green poles were placed closely together side by side, straight and tall, forming a circle of green high walls.

While below the wall corners were stone as well, clumps of green grass emerged from many areas. In between the bamboo were also some wild roses, poking in from the outside, a few even climbing the wall.

Fifty-seven young teens at the age of fifteen were standing in the midst of the training field right now, formed in a semi-circle around the academy elder who was in the center, putting their focus on him.

This was a lesson to teach the students on how to use the Moonlight Gu.

"The Moonlight Gu is our Konoha clan's symbolic Gu, just like the Iwa clan's Bear Strength Gu, and the Kiri clan's Stream Gu. The majority of you on the field have chosen the Moonlight Gu as your vital Gu, so you must all watch properly. Soon I will demonstrate personally how to use the Moonlight Gu to attack. Students whose vital Gu is not the Moonlight Gu must also concentrate on me, as this classical long-distance attacking method can also be used on other Gu; the spectrum of methods one can use is very wide."

As he spoke, the academy elder stretched out his right hand, his five fingers opening wide. He lowered his palm so that the young teens could see the center of it.

"Firstly, you use your mind to mobilize the Moonlight Gu, moving it to the center of your palm." Following his voice, the crescent mark that represented the Moonlight Gu moved down the elder's arm and into his palm.

"Then, you mobilize the primeval essence in your aperture, pouring it into the Moonlight Gu." A thread of white silver coloured primeval essence gushed out from the elder's body, so fine it was almost impossible to see. It entered the Moonlight Gu in his palm.

The academy elder was of a Rank three realm, and only Rank three Gu Masters could produce white silver coloured primeval essence. Rank one Gu Master's primeval essence was commonly known as green copper primeval essence, while Rank two Gu Masters had theirs called red iron primeval essence. When they reached Rank three, it becomes white silver primeval essence.

Once it absorbed the thread of white silver primeval essence, the crescent-shaped mark in the elder's hand instantly glowed brighter and brighter. Although it was daytime, it still issued a brilliant pale-blue light.

"That's awesome!"

"How beautiful." The youngsters could not help but let out praises of surprise and amazement when they saw it.

The pale blue light was clear like water. It flickered faintly in the elder's palm. At first glance it would seem as if the academy elder's hand was scooping a handful of moonlight. The academy elder smiled a little. "Now watch carefully, the last step is just like how I will do it, launching it out."

As he said this, his widely opened five fingers slowly closed together, then he lifted his arm up and slowly moved it forward, his arm straight. Finally he waved his palm lightly in a cutting motion.

The entire movement was steady and powerful.

Swoosh.

The young students could hear a light brushing sound beside their ear.

Following the academy elder's movement, the condensed water-like pale blue light in his palm was thrown out like that.

The light transformed into a small moonblade in the air, the faint blue moonblade only the size of a wide-open hand, the shape just like the crescent moon in the night sky. It drew a straight line in the air before it hit a grass puppet ten meters away.

A tearing sound was heard, and the grass puppet's neck that was about thirty centimeters thick was cut clean by the moonblade. The puppet's body swayed about, the huge head suddenly falling onto the floor.

After cutting the grass puppet into half, the moonblade immediately appeared dimmer. However it continued flying about another six meters in the air before the crescent began to gradually fade away, finally dissipating in the air.

Looking at the grass puppet's neck again, one could see that the cut area was extremely flat, as if it was cut away by the sharpest sickle.

The youngsters were all shocked as they saw this, their eyes wide-open. A few of them even touched their own necks involuntarily, astonished by the attacking power of the moonblade.

After a short silence, the sounds of exclamation began. The teenagers had shining eyes as they stared at the grass puppet, some of them staring at the elder's palm. A few of them were looking at their peers, talking and whispering excitedly.

Only Yami stood hidden in the crowd with a cold expression, his stature calm.

In his previous life, Yami had cultivated to Rank six, and he had created the Blood Wing Demon Sect in the Middle Kingdom. He taught tens of thousands of people, and was reputed as a giant figurehead of the Demonic faction, his fame illustrious.

The academy elder was just a Rank three Gu Master. This small trick was just child's play to him; it would not cause any ripple of emotion in Yami's heart.

"All those of you who have refined the Moonlight Gu, step out. Each one of you shall take a grass puppet and follow the way I just did it, throwing out the moonblade, practice attacking."

Once the academy elder was finished, around thirty students stepped out.

In this batch the entire clan had a hundred young teens joining the Awakening Ceremony. Those who had cultivating talent were around fifty-seven. Among these students, those who had chosen the Moonlight Gunumbered around thirty-five. After going through these few days of hard work, they had all refined the Moonlight Gu. Those that were left were all D grade talents. It was not because they did not desire to refine the Moonlight Gu, but it was due to the inability of their talent, so they could only withdraw after learning of the difficulty.

To the youngsters of the Konoha clan, the Moonlight Gu was not a simple Gu worm, but the symbol of the clan's glory.

Very quickly thirty-five of them stood in a row. Each of them faced forward, standing ten meters away from a grass puppet on the opposite.

Yami stood in the middle of the row, but he did not garner any attention. The practice began.

The students all stretched out their right hands, letting the Moonlight Gu move to the heart of their palm. One by one the blue crescent mark started to give out water blue light as green copper primeval essence was poured in.

But when they drew a vertical cut with their palm, only seven or eight crescents flew out. Among these crescents, some of them only appeared for a short moment before dissipating away. Some flew out for two to three meters before disintegrating into blue light with a bang. Some flew further, but the direction was severely off-course, flying straight up to the sky.

The young teens all frowned. When they saw the elder's demonstration earlier it seemed quite easy. But when they started practicing themselves, they realised the skill required in this action. To throw out a moonblade and to have it hit on the grass puppet, it really was not that simple.

The elder had a faint smile as he watched. He saw this scene every year, and was not surprised. The remaining twenty-two students could only stand outside the field, watching jealously.

After practicing for five minutes, the youngsters were gradually able to produce moonblades. For a time in the training ground, pale-blue coloured moonblades flew about everywhere.

A few moonblades would fade halfway, a few unluckily crashing into another. Some flew out of the training field, twisting around. Those that were able to hit on the grass puppets were just a small few. Of course these were all due to sheer luck.

The academy elder started to tutor and guide each one personally.

He focused greatly on Naruto, Kiba and Shino and those others with good latent talent. He patiently corrected their postures, teaching them his experience. Towards those C grade talent students like Yami, he only mentioned two sentences.

Yami kept condensing the blue light in his hand. He waved his palm a few times cutting the air, but he did not release the light, pretending and acting. With the field a mess at the moment and no one focusing on himself, he moved his thoughts and released his hold on the Moonlight Gu, his palm tilting a little, making a cutting action.

In order not to raise attention, he did not focus on his own grass puppet opposite him, but aimed at the one on his left.

With a whoosh, a moonblade flew out quickly, passing through the center of chaos, drawing a straight line in the air and cutting accurately into the neck area of a grass puppet.

The grass puppet wavered for a moment, the neck area cut deeply by the moonblade. But very quickly, the green grassy area that was cut began to regrow, tangling together and healing away the wound.

Of course, this grass puppet was not a normal scarecrow. It was a Rank one Scarecrow Gu, having the nature-type ability of self-recovery.

Unless the puppet was cut into half at once, it would just recover back to normal in a short while.

"Wow, look at that crescent!"

"How cool, who threw it?"

Moonblades that were able to hit grass puppets right now were rare. Yami just casually hit one, yet it caused the most significant result so far. Thus in an instant the students outside the field gave out cries of surprise. Even the academy elder's attention was caught, and he asked, "That moonblade just now was not bad. Was it yours?"

He looked at a C grade talent student with an enquiring eye, since that grass puppet was just opposite him.

This male student blinked his eyes, feeling somewhat bewildered as he faced everyone's sudden gazes at him. To be honest the field was just in a chaos earlier with moonblades flying about, so even he did not know if it was he himself who threw it.

However looking at it, it probably is me? Thought the young boy. Then he nodded his head subconsciously.

The youngsters around him immediately looked at him with admiration.

"Who is he, what is his name?" Some of the girl students asked around.

"Even he can throw out a moonblade, I must not lose!" Kiba Inuzuka's eyes flashed with a hint of determination.

"So it's not big brother who threw it," Naruto Uzumaki inexplicably sighed with relief. After Uncle and Aunt consoled him, he was able to recover from the previous blow.

"Big brother, you won first place last time because your luck was good, picking a weak-willed Moonlight Gu. A GuMaster's cultivation cannot always rely on luck, I will win you." Naruto was cheering for himself in his heart.

"You did well. Continue trying hard, seize the feeling you had earlier." The academy elder patted the student's shoulder, smiling as he encouraged him.

The young boy quickly showed excitement and he nodded continuously, his eyes appearing with a different luster.

The elder took the opportunity and announced, "Listen up everyone, this will be your homework. Practice well after class, in three days I will check the results. Whoever performs the best will receive ten pieces of primeval stones as the prize. Understand?"

"Yes!" The young students all shouted loudly. They could not help but be more excited when they heard about the primeval stone reward.

However only three minutes later, the moonblades that flew about in the air started to thin gradually.

"Damn, every single moonblade takes up 10% of primeval essence."

"The consumption of the moonblade is just too much, I am just a C grade talent, my aperture can only hold 38% of green copper primeval essence. I can only throw out three moonblades."

Those that stopped all sighed.

The academy elder was calm as he witnessed everything, but his heart sighed, "This is the benefit of those with high cultivating talent. To use the moonblade, it is simply just three words – Practice makes perfect. Those with higher grade talent are able to hold more primeval essence in their apertures, and the rate of recovery is faster, so they have more chances to practice. Those with poorer talent can also use primeval stones to make up for it, strengthening the number of practices. But those with low grade talent and have no primeval stones, though they have the mind to practice they will still be powerless. Sigh, the Gu Master's cultivation process is just so cruel. I had just better take care of those high grade talent students."

* * *

The sun had already set.

The sunset glow was still burning in the sky. The mountains far away in the distance were covered in a thick layer of grey ash, gradually turning to black.

In the academy, a day's class was over. The students walked out from the academy in groups of twos and threes.

"I'm really happy today, I learnt quite a few things. Especially how I got to learn how to use the Moonlight Gu."

"The way the moonblade flies in the air looks so cool. It's too bad that my talent isn't enough, so in the future I can only be a logistics Gu Master, I won't be able to go onto the battlefield." The young teenagers happily chatted away.

A few of them called their friends over.

"Let's go and eat, we can drink some rice wine while we're at it, what do you think?"

"Sure, that's not a bad suggestion."

"You guys go on first, I need to go to the store beside the academy's Gu room and buy a grass puppet. It will be easy to practice at home with it."

Yami went to the Gu room alone.

The academy's Gu room kept quite a few Rank one Gu worms. There were many types and variations, and Yami's Moonlight Gu was taken freely from inside.

Once in a while the students would have a free chance to pick a Gu worm. If one wanted to get extra Gu, they would need to pay up.

In this short time Yami had no wish to refine any other Gu. He walked to the building beside the Gu room – it was a small store.

In the store there were seven students, each of them negotiating over the counter with the store owner for buying grass puppets.

"It's you, junior." The Rank one Gu Master responsible for the store was in his twenties. When he saw Yami, he automatically greeted him while bargaining with his customers.

Yami was taken by surprise, finding out that this Gu Master was Jiro. It was the young Gu Master that had taught the hunters a lesson in the inn.

"Ah, it's you senior." Yami nodded his head, his face expressionless.

Jiro took out a grass puppet from the counter behind him, passing it to the student who purchased it. At the same time he threw Yami a friendly smile and asked, "Did junior brother come here to buy a grass puppet as well? If you want me to leave one for you, you just need three pieces of primeval stones. These things sell like hotcakes, right now there's only seven left, if you wait any longer there won't be any stock left."

Jiro's attitude towards mortals was arrogant, but towards people like Yami, he was very kind and sincere.

Yami shook his head, laughing secretly as he thought, this Jiro really did know how to do business. The grass puppets were made with the Scarecrow Gu. Even after including the primeval essence that was put in, the final cost should not be more than one and a half primeval stones.

"Senior, this isn't fair. It should be first come first serve, why leave any for him?"

"Yeah, we all came early. If you want to do business you should know the rules."

"Three pieces will be three pieces, here's the primeval stones, give me a grass puppet."

The youngsters in the store were all worried when they heard that the store only had seven puppets left. They stopped trying to negotiate, and took out their stones to buy it.

Very quickly, seven satisfied teenagers walked out.

"Does my junior want to buy a grass puppet?" Jiro laughed as he asked, "It seems like they were sold out, but actually there's still the eighth puppet stowed away below the chest. If junior doesn't buy it now, you will miss the opportunity."

Yami had no interest towards the grass puppet. He shook his head and pulled out a piece of primeval stone, putting it on the counter. "I want to buy ten moon orchid petals."

Jiro was stunned. He looked Yami deep in the eye, taking away the primeval stone and pulling open the counter drawer. Then he took out a paper bag, saying, "Ten pieces of moon orchid flower petals, not one less. Please make sure."

Yami checked the goods on the spot and found no mistake with it. Finally he left the small shop.

Gu have to be fed.

A Gu Master refines Gu, uses Gu, and at the same time needs to raise Gu.

Refining a Gu is difficult; there is the risk of counterattack. Using a Gu is not easy; one needs a lot of practice. The knowledge of raising a Gu is even more extensive and profound, because there are all kinds of Gu worms and their food are exceedingly strange. Some need to swallow soil, some need starlight, some require tears and some feed on the clouds and air from the nine skies.

Just by taking Yami's current three Gu for example, the Moonlight Gu requires moon orchid petals, two meals a day. In the morning and night one meal, every meal two pieces of flower petals. Meanwhile for the Liquor worm, it needs to drink wine. A jar of green bamboo wine could support it for four days. As for the Spring Autumn Cicada, it is even more peculiar as it drinks straight from the River of Time, maintaining its vitality.

The River of Time supports the flow of this world. It is not far away in the sky but very near at hand, flowing by every person's side. Every move made by every living creature requires the push of time.

Time is like flowing water, hurriedly gliding forward. The River of Time is invisible and colourless, while in reality all living creatures are actually surviving and living in the waters of the River of Time.

After buying the bag of moon orchid petals, Yami went to the inn to buy green bamboo wine. The Liquor worm could also drink some turbid wine or rice wine to live. However with this kind of second-rate wine the amount it needed to drink would increase, and it would need many jars everyday. After calculating, Yami decided it would be better to buy green bamboo wine straight away. Not only would it be more worth than buying second-grade wine, it would also not arouse suspicion.

"Young sir, you've come." The workers in the inn had already known Yami. Yami passed him three pieces of primeval stones directly, saying with a familiar ease, "Give me a jar of green bamboo wine and make me a few good dishes. You don't need to give me the change, just put it here first. At the end of the month when it amounts up to one stone, you can subtract from my bill with it."

Even though Yami no longer stayed at the inn right now ever since he moved to the academy dormitories, he would always have a meal here when he bought wine.

"Alright. Young sir please take a seat, the dishes will be sent over immediately." The worker echoed, leading Yami to his seat. He took the cloth on top of his shoulder and gently wiped the table before leaving. Indeed as the worker said, the dishes were very quickly served.

Yami ate and calculated at the same time in his mind, "A piece of primeval stone can buy me ten pieces of flower petals. The Moonlight Gu consumed four pieces everyday. A jar of green bamboo wine costs two pieces of stones, and it can support the Liquor worm for four days. In other words just to raise and feed the two of these Gu, I would need to spend nearly one stone everyday."

It does not seem like much, but in reality this was very costly. The monthly living expenses for a mortal family of three only used up one piece of primeval stone. From the starting of refining the Gu until today, sixteen days had already passed. Just to raise the Gu alone Yami had already spent fourteen and a half primeval stones.

"I have acquired the Flower Wine treasure, taken away Naruto's bag of primeval stones and also got the first place reward. My primeval stone assets once reached up to forty-four pieces and a half. However in the early days of refining the Gu I wasted six pieces and a half, then I used fourteen pieces and a half on feeding these Gu. My living expenses cost half a piece, and today I am probably left with twenty pieces."

Yami took out his money pouch. He opened it and looked inside. The bag contained pieces of primeval stones inside. Each of these stones were greyish white in colour, their shapes ellipsoid and the volumes equal, the size similar to a duck egg.

After counting he found that he really only had twenty pieces left. In other words if this continued on then Yami would only be able to go on for half a month with the remaining stones he had left. He was not like his peers – they had relatives and friends to help them out, especially with the case of students like Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame who were loaded with primeval stones.

Yami could only think of a way himself.

"Uncle and Aunt have already cut off my living expenses, but every weekend the clan academy would give out three pieces of primeval stones as subsidy to every student. Looks like I would need to show off in the moonblade assessment in three days and take that ten primeval stone prize." Yami chewed the food in his mouth while he pondered.

His current age was just at the age where the body was growing. Without realizing it all the rice and dishes had entered his stomach.

Taking up the sealed green bamboo wine jar, Yami lifted his feet and started walking, leaving the inn.

"Young sir, young sir." The inn worker chased after him from behind and said, "Just to tell young sir something, but in less than a month the trading company will arrive to the village. By convention they would always buy the green bamboo wine in our shop. Young sir loves our green bamboo wine and always buys a few jars every week, so the innkeeper ordered me to tell young sir about this matter. The green bamboo wine in our store has limited supply, so after we sell it to the trading company I'm afraid we would be left with very little."

"Is that the case?" When Yami heard the news, he frowned slightly. To know someone and tell apart the conversation, Yami had five hundred years of experience. The shop worker and the young Gu Master Jiro spoke with similar meaning, however Yami could naturally tell the difference with Jiro's tricky words and the shop worker's truthful words.

This matter was a little troublesome. Yami needed to feed the Liquor worm and he needed a huge amount of green bamboo wine in the long run. If this inn ran out of stock then he would have to use huge amounts of second-rate wine to feed the Liquor worm.

It was not possible for him to drink several jars a day. After a while people would be suspicious. After thinking about it, Yami took out ten pieces of primeval stones and said, "Then I'll buy another five jars. I will need you to carry them for me and follow me to put them in the academy dormitory."

"Alright, young sir." The worker immediately accepted the primeval stones.

The moon orchid flower petals could only last for five days without any special storage means, so Yami would only buy a bag every time. However the green bamboo wine could be kept for a very long time, thus there was no problem with this.

A few workers followed Yami into the academy dorms and placed the wine jars under his bed, and then they bid their leave. As he saw the money pouch that had suddenly flattened down in his hands, Yami heaved a sigh.

Refining a Gu is hard, but raising a Gu is also not easy.

This is also considering the fact that he had his five hundred years of previous life experience, so he did not need to practice using his Gu, meaning that the consumption rate of primeval essence would be lessened and thus saving him a huge sum of expenses.

For those at his age around him, they would need to practice using the Moonlight Gu and would need to waste primeval essence. To increase proficiency, one would need to practice many times. When too much primeval essence is consumed, primeval stones would have to be used as a supplement since the recovery rate is too slow. To buy a grass puppet it costs three primeval stones as well. All this is money.

"Fortunately my Spring Autumn Cicada feeds on time and not anything else. Otherwise I would have long gone bankrupt, I would never be able to support it." Yami suddenly felt very lucky.

The more high-end the Gu is, the greater the food consumption needed or the more precious and rare the food required would be, thus the more difficult it would be to keep. A normal level Rank two Gu worm would cost up to around one to two pieces of primeval stones a day.

It is good enough if the food is purchasable. There were some Gu that required food that was relatively difficult to find, some of it did not even circulate in the market.

Just like the Spring Autumn Cicada's food being time itself, this was actually more precious. After all there was a saying, an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time.

No matter how much money you have, can you buy time?

You can't!

In theory a Gu Master can refine an unlimited amount of Gu. As long as you can refine it, whether ten, a hundred or a thousand worms is possible. You can refine as many Gu as you wish to.

But in reality a Gu Master normally only had 4-5 Gu.

Why?

The biggest reason is because it is hard to afford.

The higher the grade of the worm, the more expensive it would cost to feed and raise. It often gave a Gu Master too many difficulties to cope with, making them have unceasing headaches over it.

Another reason was – unable to use.

To use the Moonlight Gu to throw out a single moonblade attack, one would need to use up 10% of primeval essence. A C grade talent Gu Master could run out of primeval essence in their apertures after launching three to four attacks.

To raise so many Gu, wouldn't it be a waste if one couldn't use them anyway?

Thus in the Gu Master's cultivation there was a saying going around: Raising a Gu is like raising a mistress.

To keep a mistress you would need to buy food, clothes, a house etc. It is very expensive and the more you have the more costly it is; a normal man cannot afford it.

Even if you keep so many, a man's energy is limited; he cannot use them all. Would you raise them just to look at them?

When the rank of the Gu Master increases, so does the food standard of the Gu worm. Thus please refrain from seeing how a Gu Master has no limit to the number of refining Gu; in general a Gu Master only keeps around 4-5 Gu of his level.

If the number of Gu was raised higher, the Gu Master would go bankrupt!

* * *

Three days later.

"Lowering your body to dodge, that is the usual technique of restraining against a flying fist. When your enemy comes and attacks you, quickly squat down and at the same time do a counterattack, striking his crotch and abdomen. Do not be afraid of a swinging fist. Usually those who come up and start swinging their fists at the first moment are people who have no brains and are impulsive and rash."

On the martial arts field, the academy's martial arts instructor spoke while he performed actions to demonstrate. A wooden puppet's right first swept over, and the martial arts instructor quickly squatted down, dodging the incoming attack. Then he threw a punch at the puppet's abdomen, knocking it down with a few punches.

The students were looking at the demonstration in a circle, but most of them were lacking in spirit, showing very little interest.

The academy taught a variety of courses and this lesson was the one that taught foundation of martial arts. Using fists and legs to exert oneself was too inferior to the handsome and cool attack style of the moonblade, making almost all the students absent-minded.

"The next class will be the Moonlight Gu's usage assessment. How have you been practicing so far lately?"

"I'm still doing good. I can do three moonblades, but only a few of them actually hit. Usually I get two blades on the grass puppet."

"Mmm, that's the same like me. I specially bought a grass puppet just to practice for this in these few days."

…..

The young teens whispered to one another, their minds long gone from the lesson. They were all worried about the assessment in the next class. Just for this assessment, they had practiced hard for a long time after class, and now they were flexing their hands and feet, looking forward to the assessment.

The sounds of the students' discussion had reached the instructor's ear, and the martial arts coach jerked his gaze back at them, shouting, "No talking allowed in class, all of you keep your mouths shut and watch closely!"

He was a Rank two Gu master, his body rather muscular. His upper body was naked and robust, the bronzed skin littered with countless scars on it. With a loud shout he showed a threatening manner, pressing down on all the students in the field.

Silence fell in the martial arts field.

"The foundation of martial arts is the most important among important things. Especially in the early stages of a Gu Master's cultivation, it is more important than anything else. All of you better focus your attention on me!"

After he finished scolding, the martial arts instructor called out another wooden puppet. This light yellow wooden puppet was two meters tall, its huge wooden feet making sharp sounds as it stepped on the bluestone floor tiles. The wooden puppet stretched open its arms and rushed clumsily towards the coach.

The instructor dodge its attack, then fiercely hugged its waist and used his strength to push it forward down, causing the huge and tall wooden puppet to fall to the ground. Then the instructor rode on the puppet's waist and swung his fist quickly at the puppet's head.

The wooden puppet resisted for a moment, then its head was smashed broken by the instructor's raining blows. It was paralyzed on the ground, lying motionless.

The martial arts instructor stood up, his breathing calm and long as always. He explained to the students, "When facing a huge and tall enemy in close combat, do not be afraid. Ruining the opponent's center of gravity is a type of sensible tactic to pin down your enemy. Just like how I did it earlier, you must hug the opponent's waist, control his hips and then push forward with your strength. After that you take the opportunity and get on his body and fiercely punch at your enemy. Those with no defensive capabilities will instantly collapse."

The students nodded repeatedly, but most of their eyes showed disapproval. The coach saw all of this and laughed bitterly in his heart.

Every batch was like this. The attitudes of these youngsters were naturally easily attracted by gorgeous things. Without personal understanding and experience, it was hard for them to understand the importance of having a martial arts foundation. In truth especially for a Gu Master in his early stage, while the basic martial arts did not look promising, it was actually more important than the blade attack.

"….Remember, in close combat, your sight must not always stare at the enemy's eye. It should focus on the enemy's shoulder. No matter punching or kicking, the enemy's shoulder will always move first…."

"…In close combat your speed is very important, the speed I am talking about in this context is not the speed of your fists, but the speed of the movement of your legs…."

"….Distance is the best defense…"

"…Keep your legs elastic, then you will be able to easily burst out your strength…"

"When striking with your fists, maintain a triangle support. Otherwise you will lose your footing. The enemy has not fallen, yet instead you fell first…"

The instructor patiently explained while he demonstrated. These were all his valuable experiences that he got from sacrificing blood and tears, experience accumulated from long battles.

Unfortunately the students were unaware of this. They gradually started to whisper again, the focus of the discussion still on the next lesson's moonblade assessment.

"This martial arts instructor is very pragmatic, but his teaching style is wrong." Yami watched quietly among the crowd, nodding and shaking his head at times. The instructor had no discipline in his teaching; he taught completely by interest, and just taught whatever he thought of. Therefore the things he taught came out in a mess and there was a lot of complicated info. In the beginning many students listened seriously, but gradually they lost interest and diverted their attention to other aspects.

Only Yami listened meticulously all the way; while others were learning, he was revising. His combat experience was richer than the instructor, but listening to others narrating was also a way of verification in cultivation.

A Gu Master's method of fighting is usually divided between melee and ranged. The moonblade attack is a type of ranged attack, but when strictly speaking, it is considered medium range due to its effective distance only being ten meters.

When it came to close combat Gu Masters, the martial arts instructor was the best example. Melee battle Gu Masters would usually choose Gu that amplified their own body strengths and cultivate. These Gu would give them superhuman strength, agility, responsiveness, endurance etc.

Just like this martial arts instructor, his whole body was covered in bronze skin. This was of course not his own skin colour, but it was a type of copper skin Gu's effect. The copper skin Gu would increase the Gu Master's skin toughness and defence by a lot, letting the Gu Master be able to endure more damage.

"A single moonblade would consume 10% of primeval essence. How many times can a Gu Master throw a moonblade during battle? The number is few, especially for beginners who have difficulty forming effective blows. It can only be used as a type of trump card, the terrorizing factor is greater than its lethality. To a Rank one Gu Master, the truly useful skill would be martial arts kung fu. This is because the martial art offence is more durable and reliable. It's a pity that this fact is something that they will not understand unless they face it with their own experience."

Yami lightly glanced around at his peers, a faint sneer somehow forming on his lips.

The basic martial arts class was finally over. After a short rest, the student's eyes were filled with anticipation; the academy elder was late. He waved his big hand, pointing at the row of grass puppets in front of the bamboo wall. He went straight to the subject and said, "Alright, today is the day to check the results. I want five people in a group coming up in proper sequence, using the moonblade to attack three times."

Swoosh.

The first group of students went up, and the moonblade danced in the air. After three rounds, only nine moonblades hit on the grass puppets.

The academy elder shook his head a little, feeling slightly displeased. This hit rate was too low, the key being that among these five only two managed to successfully throw out two moonblades.

"You all better practice properly after this, especially you, and you." The elder reprimanded in a short sentence, then he waved his big hand and said, "Next group."

The two that were reprimanded dropped their heads and left the field in dismay. One of them was a girl, her eyes a little red and her heart grieving. She was only a C grade talent, yet she could not bear to use primeval stones to quickly recover her primeval essence. Thus in these three days she practiced very little, resulting in her unskilled throwing of the moonblade.

A Gu Master needed money to refine Gu, raise Gu; even practicing to use Gu needed cash. But where was she able to get so much money? Even though her two parents were supporting her from behind, but every family had their own problems. To be short of funds was often the dilemma that a Gu Master faced.

"Anyway I don't have the slightest chance of getting number one. I might as well give up and save on primeval stones, that is better for me." As she thought of this, her heart became calm once more.

There were actually quite a number of people who thought the same way as this young girl. Because of the lack of practice, many of the students performed poorly. The academy elder's brow deepened more and more.

Yami watched, secretly shaking his head. "These people are really pitiful and sad. Just for a small amount of primeval stones, they gave up their own chance to make progress. Primeval stones are meant to be used; if you want to become a miser and accumulate primeval stones, then what did you become a Gu Master for?"

In other words, those who are shortsighted would often haggle over every penny and chase after less important things. As for those with lofty aspirations, they usually showed a tolerant and generous attitude, and had the strength to give up and let go of things.

"It's finally my turn." At this moment, Kiba Inuzuka's horse face lit up in a confident smile all over, and he walked up to the field. His stature was stout and gave out a fierce and strong aura. After standing still he raised his hand and threw three moonblades – all three of them hit. Among the blades, two of them hit on the puppet's chest, while the other blade hit the puppet's left arm, shaving away a few green grass.

This result naturally caused the young teens to burst with admiration.

"Well done." The elder's brow slightly smoothed out.

The next group came up, Shino Aburame standing among them. He had a small and short body, his face full of pockmarks, his expression bringing a slight nervousness.

He sent out three moonblades continuously and all three hit on the puppet's chest, cutting out three intertwined scars. The scars went from deep to shallow and restored back to its original appearance after a few breaths, due to the puppet's self-healing ability.

However this outcome was already tied to Kiba Inuzuka's result, and also received the elder's praise. Shino held his head high as he walked out of the field, looking at Kiba defiantly in the eye on the way.

"Hmph!" Below the field, Kiba Inuzuka gave a cold snort, but he did not return Shino's glare. Instead, he continued looking at Naruto Uzumaki who had not gone up yet.

His heart clearly knew that the real threats were only Shino Aburame and Naruto Uzumaki. The previous was the same like him – a B grade talent while also having the constant supply of primeval stones. The latter was an A grade talent; while Naruto did not have as many primeval stones as them, but just by relying on his own natural recovery speed thanks to his grade talent, he would also be able to practice a lot in a short amount of time.

Right now Shino Aburame's results have appeared, showing a tie to Kiba, and only Naruto Uzumaki was left.

In the last few groups, Naruto Uzumaki finally came up to the stage.

* * *

"Is he Yami or Naruto?" Some of the students were muttering; there were still people who could not differentiate between Yami and Naruto, the two twin brothers.

"It's Naruto. Yami is always wearing a cold expression, he would never appear tense," someone answered.

"Oh, then there will be a spectacle. Naruto is the only A grade talent from our village in three years, after all." The crowd casted their eyes over to the field.

Naruto could feel the pressure among the gazes shot at him, and this made him feel even more nervous. Standing on the stage, his fingers were trembling slightly.

He threw out his first moonblade, originally intending to aim at the grass puppet's chest. But because he was tense, he missed – in the end the moonblade imprinted onto the grass puppet's neck area.

The young teens instantly let out a sound of slight surprise.

They thought that Naruto deliberately did it. Instead of aiming for the easiest spot which was the chest of the puppet, he went for the neck instead – this was a showcase of huge self-confidence towards his own attacking skill.

They could not help but look forward to Naruto's next move. Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame however had their complexions cast down.

Only those among the field who could see Naruto's error were the academy elder and Yami.

"How dangerous!" Looking at the moonblade, Naruto exclaimed in his heart while secretly feeling lucky. He took in a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm down. Then he threw out two blades. This time he did not make any mistakes, and the two blades hit accurately on the grass puppet's chest.

This result made the academy elder nod his head, and Kiba and Shino calmed down as well. Naruto's result was different from theirs, so it would all come down to how the academy elder decided to grade them.

The other students let out sounds of sighing. Naruto's later performance was not interesting, making them feel slightly disappointed.

The next few groups were not interesting either. No one was able to perform better than Kiba, Shino and Naruto. The youngsters started to whisper around.

"At this rate, the top scorer in today's assessment should be among the three of them."

"All three of them managed to hit the grass puppet, I wonder who the academy elder will deem better."

"Hold on, it's the last group. Yami's going up."

"Oh, that C grade talent 'cold genius'? Heh heh."

Right when it was the last group, Yami finally went up stage.

"It's that Yami…." Kiba Inuzuka lifted his head and looked at Yami for a moment, then he lowered his eyes uncaringly.

"Last time you got really lucky, choosing a weak-willed Moonlight Gu by accident and getting number one. Let's see how you perform this time!" Shino Aburame hugged his arms, waiting to see Yami make a fool of himself.

"Big brother… This time will not be like the last. I have practiced so hard for so long, I can definitely surpass you." Among the crowd, Naruto Uzumaki pursed his lips, subconsciously clenching his fists tightly.

Previously in the assessment to refine the vital Gu, he as someone with an A grade talent actually got second position. Naturally he was not happy with this. Especially after he understood that Yami was able to win and get number one because of sheer luck, this made him even more unsatisfied. To Naruto Uzumaki, being victorious over his own older brother Yami had a special and great significance.

Many gazes were gathered on Yami, and the academy elder's sight was fixed on him as well. Yami made no emotion; his expression was cold and detached.

He stood still, primeval essence pouring into the Moonlight Gu in the heart of his palm. With a cut in the air, he struck out the first moonblade.

This moonblade flew very high. It not only went over the grass puppet's head, but flew over the bamboo wall as well. It went on for almost fifteen meters before the light turned dim and vanished into thin air.

"Pfffft…" Someone couldn't help but laugh out.

"This is way too outrageous, isn't it." Someone sneered.

"He's indeed a genius. No wonder he managed to get number one in refining the Gu." Another spoke sarcastically.

In the earlier years when Yami created poetry and showed early wisdom, it had already caused discontented emotions among these people. Later on when he relied on 'luck' and got number one in refining his vital Gu, this made them feel a layer of jealousy among their dissatisfaction.

Many of them were waiting to see a 'good show'. They waited to see the 'genius' Yami reveal an embarrassing action, and this moonblade of his did not let them down.

Waves of laughter swept across the crowd.

The academy elder shook his head slightly, secretly laughing at himself. Why did he have to be so concerned with Yami for no reason? He was just a C grade and merely a boy who got number one in refining Gu because of sheer luck.

In his heart he had already made up his mind. Although Kiba, Shino and Naruto's results were the same, he would still pick Naruto as number one.

The war between Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame was the epitome of the political struggle between the two most powerful elders in the clan. The academy elder had always remained in the center and had no intention to enter the middle of the political vortex.

The academy elder was more inclined towards the clan head Hiruzen Bo, and Naruto was set with the clan leader. Add in the fact that he had A grade talent, choosing him as number one would mean showing biased care for him, and it was something the clan's upper authorities could accept.

A warm spring breeze blew over, the smell of flowers drifting into the training grounds. The sunlight shone down on Yami's body, sending a lonely black shadow onto the ground.

His expression was still cold as he quietly gazed at the grass puppet ten meters away. The moonblade in his palm was giving out a faint blue light.

Of course, he had deliberately thrown the first moonblade off course. Right now he only had two chances left to act. Taking into account the academy elder's position, to acquire number one he would have to create an outcome that exceeded everyone's expectations in the next two attacks.

"With only two chances left to attack, it's impossible. Big brother, I have finally won over you." Naruto Uzumaki's eyes did not flicker as he stared at Yami. From young till old, the life shadow that his older brother had brought onto him finally faded away slowly at this moment.

Naruto could feel victory so nearby. His two fists were subconsciously clenched tight, his entire body so full of excitement that he trembled slightly.

"Big brother, my victory this time is just a beginning. Next, I will keep on winning over you again and again until I banish away all the shadows in my heart. I will prove to the clan, the excellence of an A grade talent genius!" Naruto told himself in his heart.

But just at this moment, Yami acted. His right palm was like a knife, splitting the void.

With a sharp tearing sound, the watery blue light shrouded in his palm was thrown out. It flew in the air, turning into a curved blue moonblade, shooting towards the grass puppet.

In just the next second Yami's right palm lit up again in a coat of blue light. He turned his palm and shot out the third moonblade. These two attacks connected smoothly like flowing water; it was a seamless combination.

The two moonblades flew out in quick succession, the distance between the two blades less than half a meter apart in the air. Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, the two moonblades accurately hit onto the grass puppet's neck.

"This…" Naruto's pupils shrank, a bad feeling emerging from his heart. In the next moment, the students slowly opened their mouths wide as they wore astonished expressions.

They saw that the grass puppet's head slowly tilted to one side, then it fell off the neck and dropped onto the ground. With a bounce, it rolled two to three meters away.

Yami had beheaded the puppet!

This outcome had gone beyond the expectations of everyone on field.

"Is this luck or skill?" The academy elder frowned. This doubt hovered in the hearts of the rest of the students. For a time, the entire training ground lapsed into silence.

"How could this be…" Naruto murmured. He stared at Yami blankly, the surged emotions in his heart dropping instantly, falling deep into the lowest point.

Yami narrowed his eyes, acting as if he was oblivious to the gazes that fell onto him from the crowd.

Cluck, cluck…

Under the blue skies and white clouds, a group of peacock parrots suddenly flapped their wings and flew in mid-air. They dragged their magnificent, long and slender peacock tails, clucking in the air as they flew about playfully.

Yami stood in the center of the training field, looking up. Under the bright sunlight, the multi-coloured feathers of the birds dazzled even greater and gorgeous. His expression was indifferent, as if the person who just cut off the grass puppet's head was not him.

"Ah, the light of spring is really enchanting.." He sighed in his heart.


	5. A True Hero Knows Rules And Regulations

**A True Hero Knows Rules And Regulations**

If a normal person was stared at by this middle-aged man, they would have probably developed fear in their hearts already.

However, Yami lost interest after looking at him for a second and continued focusing on his meal, treating this man as if he were invisible.

"Who's that guy? He wears the clothing of a family servant, and he is not a Gu Master. Why would he dare to question young master Yami?" An employee wondered as he hid at the corner of the inn, sensing that the situation may turn ugly.

"Hmph, he's like a fox assuming a tiger's ferocity! By using the Inuzuka Family as his backing, this servant man dares to clamor at a Gu Master. If it were any other mortal man, they wouldn't have the guts to do this," someone beside the employee replied in disdain.

"Even so, as a mere mortal he has the guts to cause a ruckus towards a Gu Master. Tsk tsk, this kind of experience must feel really great."

"Tch, you shouldn't think that a Gu Master is always high and mighty. Young Master Yami is merely a Rank one initial stage Gu Master, and he has just managed to refine his vital Gu. If they were to fight now, he may not be the opponent of this muscular and strong mortal."

"Sigh, let's just hope that when they fight later, they will spare our inn and the furniture."

The employees chattered back and forth, but none dared to take a step forward, only staring from a distance.

"Eh, you still have the mood to continue eating?" Seeing as how he did not manage to intimidate or scare Yami, the muscular middle-aged man had a hint of doubt in his eyes. "Do you think I'm lying to you? There are already people reporting to young Miss and she will be here shortly. Do not attempt to run away young lad, because you won't be able to get away. My job here is to make sure you stay put. There will be much suffering for you later."

Yami paid no heed to the man and continued eating his meal.

The middle-aged servant frowned as he did not see a hint of panic or shock from Yami. This made him feel ignored and his pride was severely offended.

He had been a servant in the Inuzuka Family for over a decade, and he had acquired the trust of his master. Over a long period, he would naturally come to learn about the details of Gu Masters.

Rank one Gu Masters mostly relied on their physical combat skills. In battle, a Gu worm's worth was attributed more to its deterrence factor than as a fighting force.

He knew especially that for a young Gu Master like Yami who had just started cultivating, his physical strength was far inferior when compared to a grown man. If it came down to close combat, he who had trained for many years would gain the upper advantage.

At the same time, Yami had supposedly only refined the Moonlight Gu, so at the max, he would only be able to shoot out several moonblades.

The middle-aged man was used as a sparring partner from a long time ago, so he knew deeply that if a Rank one initial stage Gu Master were to use his primeval essence to unleash the moonblade, the most it could do was cut several palm-sized wounds and cause limited damage if it managed to hit the human body.

Additionally, the man had the backing of the Inuzuka Family, so when he confronted Yami he had no fear, and was wholeheartedly trying to show off his worth to his masters so that he could be rewarded and deemed more useful to the family.

"Young lad, you sure are courageous huh?" The middle-aged man's tone was turning unfriendly as he folded up his sleeves, revealing his well-toned and muscular forearms. His two arms were large and full of scars. The forearms had thick protruding veins and were even thicker than Yami's legs.

The inn employees watched in fear and several customers were already getting up, paying the bills and leaving this land of conflict.

"Yami has been found?" Suddenly, the door emitted a proud, loud female voice.

Hana strode forward in big steps and entered the inn. Behind her were numerous family servants.

Her body figure was decent, slightly tall and had the proper curves. But a long face like a horse's, an inherited gene from the Inuzuka bloodline, caused her looks to be greatly affected, and thus she was only a middle-upper tier beauty.

However, she wore a dark blue uniform, and a red belt, affixed with a square steel plate, tied around her waistline. The steel plate was engraved with a "2".

Additionally, she had just returned from after a clan mission, so there was still lingering traces of the hardship that she had just gone through.

These added up to create a field of pressure and threat that was emitted to her surroundings. Thus, once she stepped into the inn, the entire place went silent under her aura.

"Your servant greets you, young Miss!" The middle-aged man changed his attitude completely upon seeing Hana. He tried to smile charmingly and he bent his body as he walked a few steps and knelt on the floor, greeting Hana.

Upon seeing this change in behavior, the workers in the inn could only stare in shock with their mouths wide-open.

The tall and muscular figure, as opposed to his humble groveling attitude, was a great mismatch, and was seemingly amusing. But the employees of the inn did not laugh as his behaviour only greatly showed off Hana's imposing pressure and status.

Some of the inn workers could not help but worry for Yami as he was their major customer. If something were to happen to him and made him unable to patronize the inn any further, it would be a huge loss.

More of them were secretly praying for Yami to surrender. If a fight really broke out and destroyed the inn's property, that would be worse.

Hana did not even take a look at the groveling Akamaru; her eyes were fixed on Yami. She took a few steps forward and demanded in a fierce tone, "So you are Yami? You seem to be having a good meal. Hehehe, have you ever had a knuckle sandwich? I'll give you a taste of it, it might be even more delicious."

Even though she said that, Hana did not make a move.

Yami's actions were too calm. It was strange. Did he have any secret backers that were protecting him?

"But it shouldn't be so, I've checked before coming. This Yami only has an uncle and aunt that dislike him, while both his parents are deceased, and he even got chased out of the house by his uncle and aunt. In addition, he only has C ranked talent, so how could such a weak young man have any sort of background?" Hana thought in her mind.

Regardless of this, the situation was still too peculiar. She had to test and probe further. Yami laughed and squinted at Hana, saying, "Who told you I was Uzumaki Yami?"

Hana was momentarily stunned, then she took a look at Akamaru.

He had just stood up, but upon seeing this he immediately knelt back down with sweat pouring out of his forehead. He stammered and could not give a coherent reply, "Master, your servant, your servant…."

They had a drawing of Yami, but they did not know that Yami and Naruto were twins that looked almost identical.

"No wonder this young man looked like he had no fear. He is actually Naruto and not Yami." Hana's servants guessed in their minds.

"Yami cannot be compared to Naruto. The former is merely a C ranked loner with no background. The latter however has A ranked talent and was pulled into the clan head's faction at the Awakening Ceremony, and as long as he grows smoothly, he has a bright future ahead!" Hana did not get proper a reply from Akamaru, causing her to be even more hesitant.

At this point, the only ones who knew Yami's identity were the inn employees. However, they could not afford to offend either parties so they only kept their mouths shut.

Yami was satiated from his meal. He stood up and glanced lightly at Hana, "You want to find Yami? Come with me, I'll bring you to the school hostel to look for him."

"If the person in front of me is Naruto, I would not want to offend him. However, even if he is really Yami, I will follow him closely on this trip so I have no fear of him impersonating Naruto." In an instant, Hana made up her mind.

"Alright, I will go together with you to the school hostel. After you!" Hana turned her body to make space for Yami, stretching out her arm and indicating for Yami to take the lead.

Yami laughed nonchalantly and strode forth. Hana followed closely behind with her servants trailing at the back.

"So close!"

"They're finally gone!"

"Even if they start fighting, it is none of our inn's business anymore."

The employees that were left behind all sighed in relief as they patted their chests.

A group of people approached the school hostel.

"Halt!"

"Stop right there, the school hostel only allows our clan's Gu Masters to enter and leave." The two guards at the door stopped Yami, Hana and her gang.

"Insolent! Do you not recognize who I am? How dare you stop me!" Hana stared at the two and screamed.

"We dare not," the two guards hurriedly gestured.

"Young Miss Hana, this guard holds you in high regards. However the clan rules are absolute, so how about this. You can bring one servant in. This is the most we can do for you." An elderly guard politely responded.

Hana clicked her tongue. Her heart was full of dissatisfaction, yet in the presence of the clan rules, she did not dare to break them.

The Inuzuka Family was prosperous, and thus they had many enemies. Do not forget that aside from the Inuzuka Family branch, there was also the Aburame Family to contend with. Apart from the Aburame Family, the clan head's faction also wanted to get a hold on the Inuzuka Family.

"All of you stay behind. Akamaru will follow me." Thinking about it, Hana gave her orders.

Akamaru immediately held his chest up high with a look of joy on his face: "Thank you, young Miss for the opportunity!"

"Let's go, junior." Hana smiled at Yami with a questioning look.

Yami remained unfazed as he led them in. He reached the dormitory door, opened the lock and pushed the door open.

He then took a step into the room and stopped.

Within the room, there was nothing extra. It was all simple furniture, and there was no one else.

Hana stood at the doorstep, took a look inside and her face turned grim. "Junior, you better explain yourself well, there is no one in the room!"

Yami smiled faintly: "Aren't I someone?"

Hana stared at Yami, a glint flashing in her eyes as she suddenly seemed to have understood. "I am looking for U– Zu – Ma –Ki Yami!"

Yami snickered, "You know, I never said that I wasn't Uzumaki Yami."

"Hmm?" Hana frowned, then her rage burst forth almost instantly as she suddenly understood that she had been fooled by Yami.

"You are tremendously brave to even consider lying to me!" While speaking, she stretched out her right hand to grab hold of Yami.

Yami stood firmly on the spot. He raised his head and laughed, "Hana, you better think this through!"

Hana stopped her actions. While she still stood right outside the door, her outstretched hand paused in midair and her face showed a sign of hesitation and resentment.

Within the family, there were relevant rules. Students in the dormitories were protected, and any other person would not be allowed to intrude upon the hostel to capture the students. Hana only wished to teach Yami a lesson and let him bear a taste of suffering. She definitely did not want to risk getting punished for breaking the rules.

"If it's only me who broke the rules, that would still be fine. However, if this would affect the family and even grandfather's honour…" Thinking of this, Hana reluctantly withdrew her arm. She looked at Yami who was inside the house with her bloodshot eyes. If her death-stare could be converted into fire, it would burn Yami to ashes in a second.

"I never lied to you. I said I would bring you to Yami, and now you have already found him here. It seems you have something to say to me." Yami smiled faintly with his arms behind his back, ignoring the pressure of a Rank two Gu Master, fearlessly making eye contact with Hana's furious gaze.

He was just a step apart from Hana. One stood within the house, and one stayed outside. But this same distance had also become as far as the east was from the west.

"Hehehe, oh Yami, you sure have studied the clan rules well and thoroughly." Hana, suppressing her anger, said with a sinister smile. She added, "Unfortunately for you, even while relying on the rules, all it will do for you is to stall for time. There is no way you are staying in the dormitories forever. I'll see how long you can stand hiding in there."

Yami laughed refreshingly and looked at Hana with disdain. "Then all the more I want to see how long you can disturb me. Ah, it is already late. I have a bed to sleep in, but what about you? If I do not show up for class tomorrow and the elders come to investigate, what do you think I will say?"

"You!" Hana flew into a rage, her fingers pointing at Yami, barely restraining herself, "Do you really think I wouldn't dare come in and take you down?"

Squeak.

Yami opened the doors of the hostel wide open, his lips breaking into a grin, his eyes dark like the abyss and his tone full of confidence as if the situation was within his grasp. He challenged Hana, "Then show me."

"Hehehe…" Hana calmed down instead upon seeing this. Her eyes squinted as she looked at Yami and she said, "Do you think I'd fall for your goading?"

Yami shrugged. He had already seen through Hana's personality.

If he had closed the door, or even half shut it, Hana had at least a 50% probability of breaking into the house. But when he purposely opened it fully, it had instead made her more wary and calm as a result. Thus there was barely any chance of her forcing her way in anymore.

Five hundred years of experience had already made him fully aware of the human nature and their weaknesses.

He grandly turned around, exposing his back fully to Hana. If Hana struck now, she would definitely be able to capture him in one swift action. However, Hana stayed still outside the door as if there was an invisible mountain blocking her way.

Even after Yami sat in his bed, Hana only stared at him in anger, gritting her teeth. But regardless of this, she did not make a move.

"This is the pathetic side of humans." Yami sat up and stared at Hana who was outside looking like a fool, thinking to himself, "At times, the things preventing people from taking action is not physical difficulty, but instead it is the restrictions they have placed on themselves subconsciously."

When comparing cultivation levels, Yami was definitely not her match at this point in time. But even with her Rank two cultivation level, she could only stare at Yami and had no courage to make a move. Her distance from him was only a few steps away, and the door was wide open with no hindrance. The only thing that was truly restricting her was none other than herself.

"Humanity sought for knowledge relentlessly to understand the world and to comprehend the rules, and ultimately to use them. If one is constantly bound by the rules, thus being restricted by the very knowledge they sought, that is the ultimate tragedy." Yami took a final look at Hana before closing his eyes and letting his consciousness sink into the primeval sea.

"This Yami dares to cultivate right in front of me! He is simply doing so as he pleases!" Looking at this sight, Hana felt a sense of frustration erupting from her chest, making her almost wanting to vomit blood.

She badly wanted to go ahead and give him a few punches!

But she knew she couldn't.

Hana suddenly felt a hint of regret. Standing outside the door, she felt the awkwardness of not being able to back down.

She was indignant to give up now, but she would be devastatingly humiliated. She mobilised her servants with the intention to come and teach Yami a lesson, yet in the end she was the one who ended up becoming the laughing stock.

Especially when there was a servant looking at her now.

"Damn it! Yami is way too uncooperative! He's too sly!" Hana furiously thought and started to provoke him with all sorts of insults, hoping to force him out of the room.

"Yami you brat, come out if you're a man!"

"Yami, as a man you must own up to your own doings. Now you're being a coward hiding in that room, do you not feel ashamed of yourself?"

"Stop pretending to ignore me, get out if you know what's good for you!"

"You cowardly, spineless trash!"

Yami shut his ears and did not give a single response.

After scolding for a while, instead of venting all her anger, she felt even more irritated. She was starting to feel like a clown or a shrew; blocking the door was just way too embarrassing.

"AHHHHH, this is getting to the death of me!" Hana was about to go crazy, and she finally gave up on provoking Yami.

"Yami, you can hide now, but you can't hide from me forever!" She furiously stomped the ground and left indignantly. Before leaving she gave a final order, "Akamaru, stand there and watch him! I do not believe he will not leave the house."

"Yes, Master!" The muscular servant, Akamaru rapidly replied and sent Hana off. Within his heart he was feeling bitter – the mountain was chilly and breezy at night. He would have to stand guard the entire time, catching a cold easily like this. It was not an easy task.

Swish swoosh…

Within the primeval sea, ebb and flow of the tides raged on.

The green copper primeval essence gathered like water, forcing a tidal wave rolling about. Under Yami's mental guidance, the waves endlessly crashed towards the surrounding aperture walls.

A Rank one initial stage Gu Master's aperture walls resembled a white barrier. At this time, with the green copper primeval essence crashing towards them, it produced shadows of light, creating an indescribable feeling.

Time passed gradually and the level of the green copper primeval sea slowly declined.

From the original 44%, it dropped to 12%.

"If a Gu Master wants to raise their cultivation level, they would have to expend their primeval essence to nurture the aperture. Initial stage Gu Masters have light barriers as their aperture walls, while middle stage GuMasters have water barriers as their aperture walls and for upper stage, they have stone barriers. For me to cultivate from initial stage to middle stage, I will have to nurture the light barrier into water barrier aperture walls."

From his five hundred years of memories, Yami had complete familiarity with the current stages of cultivation, and the methods were as clear as day to him.

He slowly opened his eyes, only to see that it was already late into the night.

The crescent moon hung high in the night sky, the moonlight shining pure as water.

The door was wide open and the moonlight shone in, letting Yami think of a famous poem from the Shinobi World – On a quiet night I saw the moonlight before my couch, and wondered if it were not the frost on the ground.

The night winds blew with a hint of chilliness.

Yami did not have any warmth-type Gu, and with just the body of a fifteen year old, he could not help but shiver slightly.

The night in the mountain was very cold.

"Scoundrel, you finally opened your eyes. How long are you planning to be cultivating there?! Get out, you'll be punished regardless. You beat up our young master Kiba, so it was only a matter of time before young Miss teaches you a lesson." Seeing that Yami had woken up, Akamaru who was standing at the door got his spirits up.

Yami squinted; it seemed that the Rank two female Gu Master had left?

"Scoundrel, did you hear me? Hurry and come out here! You have a room to stay in and a bed to sleep, but I had to stand here all night. If you don't come out any time soon, don't you believe I might just barge in?!" Seeing no reaction from Yami, Akamaru threatened.

Yami remained unfazed.

"Scumbag, come out and surrender yourself. You've offended the Inuzuka Family, you will not have any good days from now on. Hurry and apologise to young Miss and maybe she might just forgive you." Akamaru continued to chide.

Yami did not listen to a single word. He took out a primeval stone from his storage bag and held it in his hands, finally closing his eyes again.

Seeing that he was going to continue cultivating, Akamaru was anxious and broke into a fit. "You mere C ranked talent, the most you can achieve in life is a Rank two Gu Master! What is there to cultivate? You are no match for the entire Inuzuka Family by yourself! Kid, are you deaf? Did you listen to a single word I said?!"

Yami paid no heed to the man and started to multitask. He simultaneously absorbed the natural essence from the primeval stone and observed his aperture.

The primeval sea level which had originally fell drastically within the aperture, with help from the constant stream of natural essence, began to slowly rise up again. This form of recovery speed was inevitably slow, but Yami was in no hurry.

Cultivation was meant to be accumulative; it could not be rushed.

The urgent matter at hand was in fact the middle-aged servant outside the house.

After half an hour, Yami's green copper primeval sea reached 44%, the maximum capacity it could hold. But this was not the end.

At this point the primeval sea showed a jade-green colour, this was only a Rank one initial stage green copper primeval essence. The primeval essence that Yami had previously used to nurture the aperture wall was no longer initial stage primeval essence. It had been turned into middle stage primeval essence, refined by the Liquor worm.

"Liquor worm." With a thought from Yami, the Liquor worm within the primeval sea instantly flew out and hovered in mid-air, its body curling into a ball form, resembling a white rice ball.

Swoosh.

10% of his initial stage primeval essence was deployed and sent into the Liquor Worm's body, and soon the essence was fully absorbed by it. Soon after, a surge of liquor mist emerged from the Liquor worm's body and congregated into a lump.

Once more, Yami deployed 10% of his primeval essence and invested it into this liquor mist. Once the mist had been fully expended, the original 10% of initial stage primeval essence shrunk by half physically, and at the same time the colour changed from jade-green to pale-green.

This is middle-stage primeval essence.

"In order to advance in their cultivation, ordinary students all use initial stage primeval essence. However, I'll be using middle stage primeval essence, and the efficiency is at least twice of theirs. Similarly, when using middle stage primeval essence to activate the Moonlight Gu and throw a moonblade, it will be far stronger than activating it using initial stage primeval essence."

Only when all the primeval essence in the primeval sea had been converted to middle stage primeval essence did Yami open his eyes.

Time passes in the blink of an eye when cultivating, and at this point it was already midnight. The sky was no longer a pure black, but it had turned a deep dark-blue colour. The moon was no longer visible, and only a few lingering stars remained.

The door was open almost throughout the entire night, and a corner of the wooden door was already wet, showing a dark colour as the water tainted it.

The school hostel had this disadvantage, it was not as comfortable as an ordinary wooden lodge that was built above the ground , but it was directly built on the ground and thus it had high humidity.

Coming back to reality, Yami felt a chill down his spine. After sitting cross-legged for such a long time, both his legs felt numb. He opened his clenched right fist and scattered a handful of white stone powder.

This was the primeval stone after its essence had been fully absorbed, and what remained was only the leftover powder.

"After a night of cultivation, I had expended three primeval stones." Yami calculated in his mind.

He had C ranked talent, but in order to pursue faster cultivation speed, he used primeval stones to replenish his primeval essence. What was more crucial was the Liquor worm, as it had been used to refine his middle stage primeval essence.

This had greatly increased the expenditure of his primeval stones.

"Although I plundered another sum of primeval stones yesterday, a night of cultivation cost me three stones. In this case, although it might seem that I have a lot of resources, it is unable to sustain me for a long time with my current cultivation speed, but this is the price I have to pay for pursuing cultivation speed and efficiency."

Yami looked outside the room again, only to see Akamaru, the muscular servant, squatting at a corner with his body curled up, seemingly fallen asleep.

"Looks like that Rank two female Gu Master had left long ago, leaving this Akamaru here to keep a watch on me. Hehe." Yami revealed a cold smile as he got off the bed and began to exercise his limbs.

Once his body had warmed up, he left the hostel.

"Lad, you finally decided to come out. So how about it? Obediently surrender and leave with me to kowtow and apologise to our young Miss." Akamaru's ears caught Yami's footsteps and he stood up immediately.

His muscular body was almost twice the size of Yami. The muscles in his body tightened and his brows knitted together, a pair of cruel eyes shining with evil light, resembling a starving hyena.

Yami expressionlessly walked towards him.

"Lad, you should have came out earlier. By coming out now, do you know how much The Great Me had to suffer by watching over you?" He snickered while approaching Yami, evidently planning something sinister.

At this moment, Yami lightly cried out, and with a ferocious leap he aimed both fists towards Akamaru.

"Bastard, you're courting death!" Akamaru's face distorted with rising anger within him, raised his brick-sized fist and he punched towards Yami.

The fist was extremely powerful, slicing through air and the swooshing sound of the wind could be heard.

Yami's eyes shone clear as crystal. Seeing that the fist was approaching close, he side-stepped and turned towards Akamaru's rear. Stretching out a finger, he struck towards Akamaru's waist.

Akamaru blocked with his retracted arm – Yami did not get a clear hit, and ended up hitting onto Akamaru's left forearm.

Yami's finger felt like it had hit a steel plate, painful and numb.

"This Akamaru has already approached the limits of a mortal's physical prowess. Right now I can only use the Moonlight Gu to fight, and without any other Gu worms to assist me, I am not his match at basic close combat!" Yami's eyes shone and he decided quickly to give up on attacking. Instead, he retracted a few steps and pulled some distance away from Akamaru.

In the Konoha village, only the Konoha Clansmen had the rights to cultivate as a Gu Master. The outsiders, regardless of whether they had cultivation talent or not, had no rights to attend the Awakening Ceremony.

But these mortals could train in physical combat.

Just like the Akamaru here, although he was not a Gu Master, he had trained vigorously in his punches and kicks and his basic skill was steadfast. Additionally he was a middle-aged man, and this meant being at the physical prime in a mortal's lifetime.

Yami, other than having the Moonlight Gu to fight, had only the body of a 15 year old teenager. Be it strength, agility or endurance, he was not Akamaru's match.

Martial artists like Akamaru were sufficient enough to kill a Rank one initial stage Gu Master. Even towards a Rank one middle stage Gu Master, they still posed a certain threat.

"This lad is too sneaky!" Seeing that Yami had drawn some distance between them, Akamaru felt anxiety within his heart.

The waist was a vital point of the body, and if it was damaged by someone through brute force, the harm was not negligible. If the force was exerted beyond a point, it could also be deadly.

Akamaru had waited outside the hostel for the entire night, and thus his body was enshrouded by the moist atmosphere, causing his reaction speed to be slightly slower. Hence the strike earlier had almost succeeded. Fortunately, although he was a bootlicker, he had trained hard in his physical ability. So at the crucial moment his body's reflex instinctively reacted and allowed him to narrowly block Yami's attack.

"I can't be careless anymore! This lad behaves like a wolf, striking harsh and deviously, getting his way whenever I am even but a little careless. No wonder young master was knocked out by him twice." Akamaru wiped the sweat off his forehead and swept away all hints of contempt. He started to take his opponent seriously.

"If I can capture this lad, it'd be a great accomplishment. Young Miss is sure to reward me! A Rank one initial stage's moonblade is at max only like a small dagger, so as long as it does not hit my vital points it'll merely be a light external injury."

Thinking of this, Akamaru's heart started to beat faster. Stretching out his shovel-like hands, he grabbed at Yami.

Boom boom boom!

Yami showed no fear and approached Akamaru to engage in close combat. Exchanging punches and kicks, taking turns attacking and defending, loud impact sounds echoed through the area.

When plundering the students, he had only used his palm with his objective being to control the crowd. But now when engaging with Akamaru, Yami had gone all out.

At times he used his fingers to jab at the eyes, sometimes strangling the throat, hitting the jaw with the base of his palm, chopping at the back of his opponent's head, using the knee to strike the pelvic area, or using his hands to grab at the waist.

Akamaru's sweat poured out like a river.

Yami's moves were all aiming at the vital points, each strike devious and deadly as if he wanted to end Akamaru's life right there!

Akamaru was a mere mortal, and unlike the Gu Masters, although he trained well in his physical combat, his vital points remained vital. Mortals were unable to train their eyelids to become steel-like. This was the limits of the mortal martial arts.

In addition, Akamaru did not dare to unleash any deadly moves on Yami.

Yami was a Konoha Clansman, so killing him would incur public rage and he would be immediately executed. In fact, the Inuzuka Family will be the first to carry out his punishment. Thus his only thought was to capture Yami alive, and it would be good if he could make Yami suffer in the process of capture.

One side has apprehension while the other side had killing intent. The situation thus became Yami suppressing Akamaru in the fight!

Yami had the upper hand for now, but it could not sustain him for much longer.

Exchanging blows back and forth, he was already panting in exhaustion. In contrast, Akamaru's breathing was still smooth and in-sync, reflecting the huge difference in stamina between the two. At the same time, as Akamaru exercised his limbs, his body gradually heated up while his punching speed became faster and faster. The effect of the cold that caused him to be slow and numb had worn off, displaying the true skills honed by his training for decades.

"Lad, you are unable to beat me! There are clan rules stating that within the school hostel, you are forbidden from using the Moonlight Gu. You are dead meat, doomed to be my captive!" Akamaru laughed maniacally; his fighting experience was rich, so he attempted to use words to cause Yami's fighting spirit to waver.

"In the end, I'm only just a teenager and my body that hasn't fully developed cannot be compared to this servant." Yami's state of mind was calm as ice. Having sharpened his will for five hundred years, there was no way his fighting spirit would waver.

"Moonlight Gu!" He called out in his mind, activating his primeval essence and at the same time leaping backwards to pull away from Akamaru.

Akamaru wanted to chase after him, but he suddenly saw a watery-blue light emitting from Yami's palm. His face darkened and he shouted, "Lad, you are using the Gu worm to fight in the school hostel, this is against the clan rules!"

"So what if I break the rules?" Yami sneered. He learnt the clan rules and memorised it to heart, but it was not for the sake of obeying it. Immediately, his palm slashed an arc towards Akamaru. With a 'ching' sound, the blue moonblade flew towards Akamaru's face.

Akamaru gritted his teeth as he raised both arms to cover his face, forming a protective shield. At the same time, he rushed towards Yami without pause, planning to endure the attack while ending the battle as quickly as he could.

The moonblade struck his arm. With a popping sound, his flesh and blood poured out under the moonlight, a wave of extreme pain hitting Akamaru's nerves. The unguarded man nearly fainted from the pain.

"How can this be?!" His rush towards Yami stopped, and he frightfully found out that both his limbs had been cut open with a deep wound. Fresh blood oozed out from the wound and from the side, while bloody muscles could be observed hanging around his flesh. Even the broken white bones of the forearm could be seen.

Akamaru was shocked beyond words. "This is impossible! A Rank one initial stage moonblade, the most it could do is to lightly injure my flesh. How could it cut through my bones? Only a Rank one middle stage can do this!"

He had no idea. While Yami was a Rank one initial stage Gu Master, due to the Liquor worm's refining, he possessed Rank one middle stage primeval essence.

The Moonlight Gu, activated using middle stage primeval essence, emitted a moonblade far superior to the initial stage that he originally predicted.

"This is bad, this boy is weird!" Akamaru who was caught off-guard had already suffered a grave injury. His fighting spirit was gone and he decisively decided to retreat.

"Are you able to escape?" Yami smiled coldly as he started to give chase, the moonblades in his hands shooting out consecutively.

"Save me!" Akamaru shouted out in horror as he fled, his voice travelling far out beyond the school hostel.

"What is going on? Someone is asking for help!" The voice alerted the school hostel guards who were nearby.

"It's the Inuzuka Family's young Miss, Hana's servant." The guards who arrived stopped in their tracks upon seeing the chasing scene.

"This is only a servant, there is no need for us to risk protecting him!"

"Letting him stay here was already a favour towards the Inuzuka Family."

"We still have to be careful, just in case he hurts Yami in desperation."

The anxious guards all gathered around, but no one lent a hand to Akamaru; they only observed from the sidelines.

This servant Akamaru, even if he died, it had nothing to do with them. However if Yami died or got hurt, it would be their responsibility.

Seeing such a sight, Akamaru despaired, he tragically screamed, "We are all outsiders! You cannot leave me to die!"

His blood loss was getting more severe, and his speed decreased.

Yami caught up to him, his voice cold as ice, announcing Akamaru's death sentence, "Go ahead and scream! It doesn't matter how loud you do so."

While saying that, the blade in his arm rotated, and he fired two moonblades towards Akamaru.

Swoosh, swoosh!

The moon blades flew towards Akamaru's neck. The servant lost all hope, seemingly one step away into the abyss.

The next moment, he felt that his world was spinning; he actually saw his own feet, chest, back… and that severed neck.

Afterwards, total darkness awaited him.

Akamaru had died.

Beheaded by two moonblades, his head flew away from the impact, his body pushed back 10 meters before falling. The neck area spewed out a fountain of fresh blood, dyeing the surrounding grass a blood red.

"Murder!"

"Yami killed someone!"

The guards could not help but scream out. They had witnessed the entire process, and they felt a sense of extreme trepidation and terror rushing all over their body.

Yami was just a weak 15 year old teenager, but he expressionlessly murdered a strong adult. This was the power of a Gu Master!

The victory had been set. Yami slowed in his footsteps and gradually moved towards the corpse.

His face was calm, as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary. This expression further sent a shiver down the guards' spines.

Akamaru's head lay on the ground, both his eyes wide open, turning in his grave.

Yami stared coldly. He raised his leg and sent the head flying.

The guards' eyelids twitched.

Yami approached the corpse and found that it was still vibrating. The blood spread through the ground, forming a small bloody puddle. He looked at Akamaru's injuries with a grim expression. These injuries were deep enough to expose the secret to the fact that he had middle stage primeval essence.

Once this was exposed, it'll be quickly deduced that he had a Liquor worm, and with that the family would naturally think of the Flower Wine Monk.

Thus, Yami had to keep this secret hidden.

"But there are too many onlookers." Yami's gaze swept through the nearby guards; there was more than ten of them. He had less than 10% primeval essence left, so there was no way to kill them all.

After pondering for a while, Yami bent down and raised Akamaru's ankle, dragging the corpse away.

"Young master Yami, you can leave this to us." The guards controlled their fear and approached Yami, politely speaking.

The respect and politeness held a tint of obvious fear.

Yami silently looked at the guards, and they all held their breaths, looking down.

"Give me the sabre," he stretched out his hand and lightly said.

With authority in his speech, he emitted undeniable pressure.

The guard closest to him uncontrollably handed him the sabre on his waist.

Yami took the sabre over and continued walking, leaving behind a dozen stunned guards staring after his back.

The sun rose from the east, and the first ray of light shone over the mountain peak, lighting up the school hostel.

15 year old Yami, with the scrawny body of a teenager, a pale look upon his skin.

Under the sunrise, he casually walked.

In his left hand was a shiny sabre.

In his right hand, a headless corpse.

His path left behind a trail of bright red blood traces dragged out on the road.

The guards were flabbergasted, their bodies stiff due to the frightening scene.

Even as the sunlight shone on them, they could not feel a sense of warmth and light.

Gulp.

Someone among them swallowed their saliva loudly.

"Did you guys hear? Yami killed someone!" A student whispered to his classmate beside him.

"I heard it too, he really killed somebody." The classmate clenched his chest with a pale face.

"There were many guards who saw him do it. Yami was chasing after that man. That guy tried to beg for mercy but Yami paid him no heed and decapitated him immediately!"

"That's not all. After killing him, Yami didn't even spare his headless corpse. He dragged it back to the hostel and chopped it into a meat paste."

"Are you for real?"

"I'm serious beyond belief. I came early this morning and I could still see the bloodstains left between the cracks of the green rock."

"Oh man, why would I lie to you? Earlier, the Academy Elder called Yami over for this matter."

The youths in the Academy did not pay attention to class as they held their little conversations.

To this group of 15 year olds, the concept of killing was too foreign and too scary.

They had been under the protection of the clan since a young age and had at most experienced organized sparring or simply killing chickens and dogs.

As for killing a person, it was still beyond them.

"Who did Yami kill?"

"I heard it was a family servant of the Inuzuka branch family."

"Yup, I'm the clearest about this matter. Yesterday, I personally saw the Inuzuka Family's Hana bring a bunch of family servants to find trouble with Yami."

"The Inuzuka Family, that's not good. Kiba is in trouble now."

A number of the youths turned to look at Kiba.

Kiba sat on his seat with a pale face - he had only heard about the news of Yami killing someone this morning. Additionally, it was the Akamaru that Kiba was familiar with. As one of the more energetic family servants, Akamaru was good at boot licking and had also put effort into his fighting skills. He was an able lackey.

A long while ago, Akamaru had even sparred with Kiba for a bit. To think that he was simply killed by Yami!

It was precisely because of this that Kiba felt astonished. He was full of disbelief and felt twice the shock compared to the others. However, compared to his shock, he felt a greater sense of worry and fear.

Facing a murderer like Yami, it would be a lie if Kiba said that he was not afraid. Actually, it was not just him - the other youngsters were afraid too. When Yami had robbed them twice previously, all of them had gotten physical with him.

"I actually fought with such a ruthless murderer? To think that I'm actually still alive." Many of them patted their chest, feeling a lingering fear.

Yami killing someone was still somewhat acceptable but the crux was that he even dissected the corpse and chopped the body into meat paste.

That was way too cruel!

The truth of such a horrifying crime had a strong impact on all of the youths' pure and innocent minds.

Within the room, there was only the Academy Elder and Yami.

The Academy Elder sat while Yami stood. Neither of them spoke a word, causing the atmosphere to be extremely tense.

The Academy Elder silently looked at Yami and a hint of complication flashed in his eyes.

In the morning, the guards had reported to him about Yami's murder incident. This news had made him feel both shocked and suspicious.

He was a Rank three Gu Master and was in charge of the Academy. He obviously knew the fighting strength of a Rank one initial stage Gu Master.

Yami being able to kill Akamaru was like the weak defeating the strong.

In truth, some guards had already reported to him that Hana had trapped Yami within the Academy by barging in the previous night.

Back then, he had not paid attention to the matter and had not stopped them.

He was the Academy Elder - his objective was to nurture future Gu Masters, not to protect them. As long as there were no deaths among the students, he encouraged hidden conflicts.

Hana coming to find trouble with Yami was something that he was happy to see. For one, he knew that regardless of whether the fight was won or lost, it would be beneficial to Yami's growth. Secondly, he wanted to suppress Yami's influence.

Yami had consecutively blocked the Academy's gates and robbed the other students. His influence was too great; it had to be suppressed.

However, he hadn't expected that Hana would return fruitlessly and that the family servant that she had left behind would be unable to beat Yami. Akamaru even got killed by him!

In this world, strength was above all else. Killing someone was not something peculiar. Especially to a Gu Master, it was something very common.

But it was not so simple when it was a 15 year old's first kill.

The Academy Elder vividly remembered his first killing scene. Back then, he was already a Rank two Gu Master. At the age of 19, he had killed a Gu Master from Kiri village in a conflict.

After killing the person, he vomited profusely and panicked in his heart. For a few days, he had no mood to eat and had no appetite. He could not even find peace in his sleep. The moment he shut his eyes, he would see the dead person staring angrily at him.

But looking at Yami now, his face was calm as ice. Where was the fluster? Not to mention that he had no uneasy feelings. It was almost like he had slept perfectly well last night, as if the person who killed a man was not him at all!

Especially when the Academy Elder heard more about the matter. After Yami had killed the servant, he did not spare the corpse and had even dragged it back to the dormitory to chop it into meat paste in his rage. Such vicious methods, even hearing about it was a kind of terror!

Thus, at this point, the Academy Elder looked at Yami with complicated emotions.

On one hand, he was amazed at Yami's indifference towards life, his attitude was as steady and as cold as ice. On the other hand, he was appreciative of the fact that Yami was a born battle-freak. After familiarizing himself with the Moonlight Gu for a few days, he had managed to kill someone with it. An ordinary teenager—even those A grade talents—may not be able to achieve this. This was a talent for battle! If he was well-nurtured and fought for the clan, it would be all of their enemies' nightmare.

Lastly, he felt worry and distressed.

Worry because after this incident, Yami's reputation was sure to rise and it would be impossible to suppress him. Yami was way too daring; not only did he disobey the clan rules by using his Gu in the Academy, he even killed someone with it. There was a need to suppress his influence. Otherwise, how would the Elder be able to manage this Academy anymore?

Distress was because he did not know how to perfectly resolve this issue. After all, it involved the Inuzuka Family's side.

"Yami, do you know why I called you here to meet me?" The Academy Elder used a solemn and deep voice to break the silence in the room.

"I know." Yami nodded and replied, "I used the Moonlight Gu in the Academy, breaking the clan rules. According to the rules, as it is my first offense, I should compensate thirty pieces of primeval stones as punishment."

He evaded the crucial point and did not mention Akamaru's death.

The Academy Elder was stunned for a second, he had not expected that Yami would answer like this.

His expression darkened as he coldly snapped, "Don't try to blur things in front of me! I'll ask you, what was the matter with Akamaru's death?"

Yami squinted his eyes and said, "Hmph, this Akamaru went against his superiors, his intentions were vicious. Last night, not only did he block my room door, he even tried to kill me. In self-defense, I was forced to use the Moonlight Gu. Fortunately, I managed to kill this traitor. I suspect that there is a high possibility of him being a spy of the other mountain villages, I implore the elders to investigate this thoroughly!"

Upon hearing this, the Academy Elder frowned and became at a lost for words.

Now that Akamaru was dead, Yami could say whatever he wanted. After all, Akamaru was just an outsider, not a member of the clan. Even if he was dead, it would not matter to the Academy Elder. However, he was worried about the Inuzuka Family's reaction. Akamaru was their servant and he had died within the academy. The Academy Elder was in charge of the academy and had to give the Inuzuka Family an explanation.

Thinking for a bit, the Academy Elder stared at Yami and questioned, "Then let me ask you. Akamaru's corpse, how did you deal with it?"

Yami's lips curled, revealing a cruel smile. "I diced Akamaru's corpse and put it inside a wooden box. When morning came, I put it at the Inuzuka Family's back door."

"What?!" The Academy Elder was stunned beyond words as he almost jumped from his seat.

Not only did Yami kill their family servant, he had even chopped up the corpse and placed it at the Inuzuka Family's back door. This was blatant provocation!

To the Academy Elder who was trying to resolve this peacefully, it was a true nightmare.

Yami was just a small Rank one Gu Master, how would the large Inuzuka Family react?

Thinking of this, the Academy Elder felt a headache as the matter had already developed out of his control. This Yami was a true troublemaker.

"Sigh, since it has already happened, there's no point in saying anymore. Leave first, the punishment will come within these few days, you should get mentally prepared." The Academy Elder was terribly upset. He waved his hand and signaled for Yami to leave; he needed to think through this calmly to come up with a solution.

Meanwhile, at the Inuzuka Family.

"What were my instructions to you? See what you did!" In the study room, Inuzuka Gaku slammed the table, exploding with a rage.

Hana stood opposite this old man, her head lowered. Her eyes were full of shock and rage. She had also just gotten the news that Akamaru had been killed by Yami!

That 15 year old teenager, to think he had such methods and determination. Akamaru was the proud servant of her Inuzuka Family and Yami's act of killing him was a blatant showing of disrespect towards them!

"Grandpa, you don't have to be so angry. This Akamaru was only a servant, his death is of no concern. He isn't a Konoha Clan member anyways. But that Yami, he is too daring, you have to 'look at the owner before you beat the dog'. Not only did he beat our dog but he even beat it to death!" Hana said indignantly.

Inuzuka Gaku furiously scowled, "You still have the cheeks to say that! Have your wings grown so tough now that you don't even put my words to heart, hmm? What I told you before, you have forgotten all about it!"

"Your granddaughter dares not!" Hana jumped in shock. She knew now that her grandfather was really angry and quickly kneeled down.

Inuzuka Gaku pointed his finger out the window and scolded, "Hmph, so what if that servant died. But now you are still showing hostility towards Yami, this is really a matter of you being short sighted and unclear of the implications! Do you know the significance of your actions? The fight among juniors is their own business. As elders, we should not interfere. These are the rules! Now that you went to find trouble with Yami, it means you are breaking the rules. I can't tell how many people are out there now, looking at this disgrace of our Inuzuka Family!"

"Grandpa, please calm down, anger will harm your body. It's Hana fault, I burdened the Inuzuka Family. Whatever Grandpa tells Hana to do, Hana will do it! But your granddaughter really cannot take this lying down, that Yami is too despicable, too shameless. First, he lied to me and entered the academy. Next, he hid in the dormitory and no matter how much I scolded him, he would not come out. Once I left, he went ahead and killed Akamaru. He is extremely sinister and despicable!" Hana reported.

"Oh, is that so?" Inuzuka Gaku frowned. This was the first time he had heard this information and a bright light shone across his eyes.

He took in a deep breath, suppressing his rage and he stroked his beard while saying, "I've heard stories about this Yami. In his early years, he was able to make poems and songs, showing early intelligence. But to think that he only had C grade talent. It was difficult for him to have a good future and thus I gave up on recruiting him. But now it seems that it's slightly interesting."

Pausing for a second, Inuzuka Gaku knocked on the table and ordered, "Someone, bring that box over here."

The servant outside the door quickly obeyed. Soon, he brought in a box. The box was neither too big nor too small but it was slightly heavy. The servant used both hands to carry it and stood beside the study table.

"Grandpa, what is this?" Hana stared at the wooden box and asked doubtfully.

"Why don't you open it and take a look?" Inuzuka Gaku squinted his eyes and said in a complicated tone.

Hana stood up, flipped over the wooden lid and looked inside.

Immediately, her facial expression changed and her pupils shrunk to a needle-like size. She could not help but take a step back and let loose an unsuppressed scream. The wooden lid in her hand also fell to the ground.

Without the wooden lid, the thing kept within the wooden box was shown to everyone present.

It was actually a pile of flesh and blood!

The bloody flesh was obviously sliced off piece by piece and placed into the box. Bright scarlet blood had accumulated inside. There was some pale skin and flesh, while some were long strands of intestines, mixed in with a few pieces of bones, either leg bones or the ribs. In the pool of blood at a corner, there were also two fingers and half a toe floating in it.

Blech...

Hana's beautiful face changed color as she took another step backwards, her stomach turning as she almost vomited on the spot.

She was Rank two Gu Master and had gone out to gain experience before. Despite that, this was the first time that she had seen such a disgusting and twisted scene even though she had killed people before.

The flesh and blood in this box were obviously the corpse of a person after being minced into pieces and stuffed in.

The scent of blood burst into the air and rapidly permeated the air immediately, filling the entire study room.

Both of the family servant's hands shook as he carried the box, his complexion pale. Although he had seen the box earlier and vomited before, he could still feel waves of palpitation and disgust as he held it now.

Among the three people in the study room, only the family elder Inuzuka Gaku was unfazed. He lightly looked at the contents of the box for a moment and said to Hana slowly: "This box was what Yami had placed at our family's back door this morning."

"What, it's really him?!" Hana was extremely shocked as images of Yami showed up in her mind.

The first time she saw Yami, it was at the inn.

At that time, Yami sat near the window, quietly eating his meal. His facial features were bland and both of his eyes were dark and gloomy. His body was thin and his skin had the special paleness of a teenager.

He looked like such a normal and quiet youth. To think that he had done such a twisted and insane act!

After her initial shock came a furious rage. Hana yelled, "This Yami is too outrageous, who gave him the guts to do so! To dare to do such a thing, this is a provocation towards our Inuzuka Family! I will go ahead now and bring him here to question him for his crimes!" After she said this, she headed towards the exit.

"You scoundrel, stop right there!" Inuzuka Gaku was angrier than she was as he grabbed an ink slab on his study desk and threw it over.

The hard and heavy ink slab hit Hana's shoulder and with a 'bang' it fell to the ground.

"Grandpa!" Hana held her shoulder as she called out in alarm.

Inuzuka Gaku stood up, his finger pointing at his granddaughter as he spoke with an extremely agitated tone, "It seems like all these years of training were in vain. You have disappointed me greatly! Against a small Rank one initial stage Gu Master, not to mention you involving so many people, but even getting led by the nose by the other party. Now that you've let your rage get the better of you, at this point, do you still not understand the meaning behind Yami's actions?"

"What meaning?" Hana was puzzled.

Inuzuka Gaku snorted, "If Yami wanted to provoke us, he would have blown up this matter, so why did he place this box at the secluded back door instead of placing it at the front door where there are many people walking around?"

"Maybe he wants to reconcile with us? No, if he wanted to reconcile, wouldn't it be better to apologise face to face? Why must he send us this box of minced corpse, this is definitely a provocation!" Hana said.

Inuzuka Gaku shook his head, then nodded. "He wants to reconcile, but at the same time, he is also provoking us. Placing the wooden box at the back door is his intention to reconcile. Placing the corpse inside the box, that is a provocation."

"You see," The old man pointed at the box, and spoke, "This wooden box is not big, and it cannot hold a complete corpse. Therefore there can only be a portion of the corpse inside. He is trying to tell us that he does not wish to blow up this matter and wants to settle this amicably. But if our Inuzuka Family wants to pursue this matter, he will place the remainder of the corpse at our main entrance, thoroughly blowing up the issue. By that time, it would be a losing situation for both sides. The entire clan knows that our Inuzuka Family broke the rules first, and to our Inuzuka Family's future head, this would be seen as him being so weak since he actually required his elder's doting and protection."

Upon hearing these words, Hana was momentarily dumbfounded. She had never expected that Yami's actions would have such profound meaning.

"His method is really wise," Inuzuka Gaku said with admiration, "With just one action, he exercised both toughness and softness, capable of advancing and retreating safely. This is just a simple wooden box but it not only expresses Yami's intention to compromise but also his ability to pose a threat to our Inuzuka Family. And it so happens that he does hold onto the weakness of our Inuzuka Family. If the Inuzuka Family's reputation is tarnished, what follows after will be the Aburame Family's attack as well as the assault from the clan leader's side."

Hana found it unbelievable. "Grandpa, aren't you thinking too highly of him? Are you sure that he's capable of this? He is only 15 years old."

"Too highly?" Gaku looked at his granddaughter unhappily. "Looks like you've had too smooth a life in these past few years. Fostering your arrogant attitude, you are unable to clearly see the reality. This Yami was unfazed towards danger and deceived you to enter the school. Next, he used his wisdom in the face of danger and hid within the dormitory to avoid trouble. No matter what insult you threw at him he did not respond, this is his ability to calmly endure. After you left, he killed Akamaru immediately, this is his bravery and courage. Now he sent this box, clearly showing his wisdom and planning ability. Can you still say that I thought of him too highly?"

Hana listened with wide eyes as she had not expected her grandfather to praise Yami so highly. Immediately she said indignantly, "Grandpa, he only has a C grade talent."

Inuzuka Gaku sighed deeply, "Yes, he is only a C grade. Having such wisdom and yet only C grade talent, it really is a pity. As long as his talent was higher, even if it was just a B grade, he would certainly become an influential member of our Konoha Clan. What a pity, he is only a C grade."

The old man's sigh was full of emotion. His sigh held both regret and at the same time rejoice.

Hana was silent and in her mind, Yami's image appeared once again. Under her psychological influence, Yami's frail expression was shrouded by a layer of mysterious and vicious shadow.

"This problem was created by you single-handedly. How are you going to settle it?" Inuzuka Gaku broke the silence as he started to test Hana.

Hana pondered for a while before she replied in a cold and aloof tone, "Akamaru was just a servant, so there are no implications even if he dies. Yami is just a C grade, so he is also a small matter. What's important is maintaining my Inuzuka Family's reputation. To appease this matter, we might as well kill Akamaru's entire family to show the entire clan our attitude to protect the rules and regulations."

"Mmm, you're able to think of the big picture. Setting aside your personal emotions to defend the interests of family, this is very good. However, your method is still flawed." Inuzuka Gaku analyzed her response.

"Please enlighten me, Grandpa," Hana implored.

Inuzuka Gaku said solemnly, "This matter was instigated by you, so I shall punish you with seven days of confinement. From now on, do not find trouble with Yami again. Akamaru defied his superiors - a servant who dares to offend his master deserves death, so he should have been executed for his crimes! Because he is a servant of the Inuzuka Family, we are responsible for our inability to educate our subordinate and thus we shall compensate that Yami with thirty primeval stones. As for Akamaru's family members, give them fifty primeval stones as compensation and expel them from the clan."

After a short pause, he continued, "For the next seven days, rest well at home, do not go out. At the same time, think about the profound meaning of why Grandpa chose to handle the matter this way."

"Yes, Grandpa."

From the layers of dark clouds in the sky, the spring rain fell.

The raindrops were thin like hair. As they fell, they enveloped Elemental Mountain in a layer of fine mist.

The dining hall on the first floor of the inn was rather empty. There were only four tables of guests.

Yami sat at a seat by the window. A gust of wind blew, bringing with it a poetic atmosphere and the scent of flowers.

"The light rain from the sky is sleek and crisp, the color of grass is seen from afar but disappears when close." Yami looked outside through a window and quoted a poem lightly before he turned his sights back to the inn.

Before him was a table filled with good wine and dishes. The color, smell and taste were all top notch. Especially the green bamboo wine which oozed with the fragrance of alcohol along with a hint of freshness. The dark green colored liquor sat quietly in the bamboo cup. From his angle, it shone with an amber-like luster.

A grandfather and his grandson were sitting at the table nearest to him. Being mortal humans, they wore modest clothes.

The grandfather sipped his rice wine while looking enviously at Yami. He was evidently attracted to the green bamboo wine but could not afford it.

The grandson ate his braised beans, a crunching sound emitting from his mouth as he chewed. At the same time, he pestered his grandfather, shaking his arm. "Grandpa, grandpa, tell me about the story of Genten. If you don't tell me, I'll report to grandma that you secretly came out to drink!"

"Sigh, I can't even drink in peace." The grandfather sighed but his face showed a doting expression towards the child. With his twig-like arm, he patted the boy's head, "Then let me tell you the story of Genten who gave his heart to the Hope Gu, escaping his predicament of being captured..."

Genten's story was the most popular and widespread tale in this world, as well as the most ancient legend.

The old man's story was something like this.

The story mentioned that Genten was able to escape his predicament because of hope. But eventually he grew old and without Strength and Wisdom, he could no longer continue to hunt. Even his teeth fell off, making him unable to chew many wild fruits and vegetables.

Genten felt death slowly approaching.

At this time, the Hope Gu said to him, "Human, you must not die. If you die, your heart will be lost and I will lose my only place of residence."

Genten was helpless. "Who wishes to die? But if the heavens and earth want me dead, I have no choice."

The Hope Gu said, "There's always hope in everything. As long as you can catch a Longevity Gu, you will be able to increase your lifespan."

Genten had heard of the existence of the Longevity Gu long ago but he waved his hand helplessly. "When the Longevity Gu stays still, nobody can detect it and when it flies, it is faster than light. How can I possibly catch it? It's too hard!"

The Hope Gu then told Genten a secret, "Human, don't give up hope no matter what. Let me tell you, on the northwest corner of this continent, there is a huge mountain. On the mountain, there is a cave and in that cave, there is a pair of round and square Gu worms. As long as you can subdue them, there is no Gu in this world that you cannot catch, including the Longevity Gu!"

Genten had no choice, this was his last remaining hope.

He braved all difficulties and finally found the mountain. He then risked his life and ventured through countless dangers to ascend the mountain. On the mountain top, near the cave entrance, he used his last remaining strength to slowly make his way in.

The inside of the cave was completely dark and one would not be able to even see their own fingers. Genten walked in the darkness. Sometimes, he would bump into things not knowing what they were. This caused himself to get injured and wounded all over. At times, he felt that this dark cave was huge beyond words as if this was a world of its own. He felt as if he was the only person in the area.

He spent a lot of time but he could not walk out of the darkness. Not to mention subduing the two Gu worms.

Just when he was at a loss about what to do, two voices spoke to him from the darkness.

One voice said, "Human, you're here to catch us? Go back, for even if you had the Strength Gu, it would be impossible."

The other said, "Human, go back, we will not take your life. Even if you had the Wisdom Gu to help you, you may not be able to find us.

Genten laid exhausted on the ground, panting. "The Strength and Wisdom Gu had left me long ago and I do not have much lifespan left so I'm at my wits end. But as long as there's hope in my heart, I will not give up!"

Hearing Genten's words, the two voices went silent.

After a while, one of the Gu said, "I understand, human, you have already given your heart to the Hope Gu. You will not give up no matter what."

The other continued, "In that case, we shall give you a chance. As long as you can say our name, we will allow you to use us."

Genten was stunned. To find their names among all the words in the world, it was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Furthermore, he did not even know how many words were in their names.

Genten quickly asked the Hope Gu, but it did not know either.

Genten had no alternatives and had no choice but to randomly guess their names. He said many many names and wasted a lot of time but the darkness did not respond to him so evidently he was wrong.

Eventually, Genten's breath got weaker as he turned from an old man into a dying man. It was like the scene of the evening's setting sun. The sun that would slowly descending had already been lowered halfway across the horizon, becoming a sunset.

The food he had brought was gradually reduced, his brain becoming slower and he barely had any energy to speak anymore.

The voice in the darkness urged, "Human, you are almost dead, so we will let you go. Using your remaining time, you can climb out of the cave and take a final look at the world. But you have offended us, and as punishment, the Hope Gu shall stay here as our companion."

Genten clenched his heart and rejected, "Even if I die, I will not give up hope!"

The Hope Gu was very touched and answered Genten's call enthusiastically, emitting a bright light. At Genten's chest area, a light began to shine. But this light was too weak, it could not illuminate the darkness. In fact, it could not even cover Genten's entire body, but only engulfed his chest area.

Yet Genten could feel a renewed surge of energy gushing into his body from the Hope Gu.

He continued to speak, shouting out names. But he was already muddled. A lot of names had already been said but he could not remember that and repeated them, wasting a lot of effort in the process.

As time continued to flow, Genten's lifespan was almost over.

Finally, when he was on his final day, he said out the word 'Regulation'.

A sigh came from the darkness as a voice spoke, "Human, I admire your perseverance. You have said my name, so from today onwards, I will obey your commands. But only with my brother can I aid you in capturing all the Gu in the world. Otherwise, with my ability alone, it is impossible. Thus, you should give up. You're almost dead, you might as well use this chance to take a final look at the world."

Genten was determined and shook his head, he made use of all his time to continue saying out names as he tried to guess the other Gu worm's name.

Seconds and minutes went by and soon he only had one hour left.

But at this time, he unknowingly said the word 'Rule'.

Immediately, the darkness dissipated.

The two Gus appeared before him. As the Hope Gu had said, one was cubic, called 'Regulations'. The other was spherical, called 'Rules'. Together, they made up 'Rules and Regulations'.

The two Gu said together, "No matter who it is, as long as they know our names, we will listen to them. Human, since you know our names already, we will be at your service. But you must remember, it is important to not let others know of our names. The more people that know our names, the more people we have to obey them. Now that you are the first to subdue us, tell us your request."

Genten was overjoyed. "Then I order you both, go and catch me a Longevity Gu."

The Rules and Regulations Gu worked together and captured an eighty-year Longevity Gu.

Genten was already a hundred years old but after consuming this Gu, the wrinkles on his face vanished and his frail limbs became muscular again. A vibrant aura of youth oozed from him.

With a belly flop, he jumped up onto his feet.

He ecstatically looked at his body, knowing that he had regained the body of a twenty year old!

"That's all for today, let's go home, grandson." The old man, having completed the story, finished his wine as well.

"Grandpa, continue telling me, what happens to Genten after?" The grandson was unyielding as he shook his grandfather's arm.

"Let's go, I'll tell you when there's another chance." The old man wore his straw hat and jacket, then gave his grandson another set that was a smaller size.

The two walked out of the inn, stepping into the rain and slowly vanishing from sight.

"Rules and Regulations..." Yami's gaze was dark as he twirled his wine cup, looking at the liquor in his cup. His heart was touched.

Genten's legend was widespread throughout this world and there were almost no people who did not know of him. Yami had naturally heard of him too.

But no matter if it was a legend or a story, it was dependant on the knowledge of the reader. The grandfather and grandson earlier merely treated it as a story, but Yami could understand the deeper meaning.

Just like that Genten.

When he did not know the rules and regulations, he explored in the dark. Sometimes he bumped into things, knocking into others, causing himself to get injured and look like a mess. And at times within a wider area, he got lost and confused, moving without a sense of direction or purpose.

This darkness was not purely black or the absence of light. Strength, wisdom and hope could not oppose it.

Only when Genten knew of the rules and regulations and said their names did the darkness dissipate and invite light into Genten's life.

The darkness was the darkness of the rules and regulations and the light was also the light of the rules and regulations.

Yami switched his gaze from his cup and looked outside through the window.

He saw that outside the window, the sky was still dark, the greenery abundant and the pelting rain flying by like mist. Close by, the bamboo tall-houses were lined up in a row, extending far out. On the road, several people walked, their feet stained with the mud from the rain. Some of them wore grayish green straw coats, while others carried yellow oiled cloth umbrellas.

Yami concluded, "This world's heaven and earth is like a huge chess board. All lifeforms are chess pieces, acting in accordance with their rules and regulations. The four seasons have their own rules and regulations, rotating between spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The flow of water has its own rules and regulations, flowing from high ground to low ground. Hot air has its own rules and regulations, floating upwards. Humans naturally also have their own rules and regulations."

"Everybody has their own standpoints, desires, and principles. For example, in the Konoha village, the servants lives are cheap while their master's lives are noble. This is a part of rules and regulations. Because of this, Sakura who wants to get close to the rich and affluent is doing her best to try and escape her servant status. Akamaru tried all means and methods to please his master, using their authorities for himself."

"As for Uncle and Aunt, they gave in to greed, wanting to hoard my parent's inheritance. The Academy Elder wants to nurture Gu masters to maintain his position in the Academy."

"Everyone has their own rules and regulations, every profession has its own rules and regulations, and every society and group also have their own rules and regulations. Only by understanding the rules and regulations can we see the situation clearly from the side. Gone with the darkness and embrace the light, moving around the rules with much to spare."

Yami thought about his own situation, his heart already clear. "To the Inuzuka Family's head Inuzuka Gaku, it is to protect his family branch's prosperity and benefits. Hana found trouble with me and that would be considered spoiling the rules, so for the sake of his family honor, he will not do anything to me. In fact, he might even compensate me."

"Actually the Inuzuka Family has great influence, so if they risk their reputation and are bent on punishing me, there is nothing I can do to resist them. However, Inuzuka Gaku is afraid. He is not afraid of himself breaking the rules, but he is afraid that others will follow in his footsteps. In a junior's scuffle, if the elders interfere, it would aggravate the situation. If it involved the higher ups, it'd pose a threat to the entire mountain village. Inuzuka Gaku's fear lied here. What if in future conflicts, others laid their hands on his grandson Kiba? In his entire family line there's only one male, so what would happen if he died? This kind of fear, maybe he doesn't realize it himself. He is only subconsciously protecting the rules."

Yami's eyes were clear as he had the perfect grasp and understanding of the matter from start till the end.

Akamaru was not a Konoha clansmen. Instead, he was an outsider, a servant.

The master executing a servant was nothing to be alarmed about. In this world, it was normal.

In the case of Yami killing Akamaru, Akamaru's death was not crucial. The crucial part was his master, the Inuzuka Family behind him.

"However Inuzuka Gaku should be able to understand my intention of compromise and threat from the time I sent a box of a minced corpse to them. This is also what I want him to think. If I'm not wrong, the Inuzuka Family will not pursue Akamaru's death. Of course, if I had better talent and was at least a B grade, the Inuzuka Family would feel threatened. Even with the loss of their reputation, they would want to suppress a future threat such as myself," Yami snickered in his heart.

Strength can be relied on but weakness can also be used as an advantage.

Although Yami was in the game of chess as a pawn, he was clear of the rules and regulations, thus he already had the mentality of a player.

An ordinary character would at most be like Inuzuka Gaku or the Academy Elder, also knowing their own rules and regulations but unsure of their non-expertise. Being like Yami, who had a clear view of the big picture and was clear of rules and regulations was extremely difficult!

To understand rules and regulations, one has to be like Genten, stumbling around in the dark and wandering about aimlessly.

At this point, strength, wisdom, and hope would be useless. One must spend a lot of time going through it themselves and gaining the experience.

For Genten to be able to say out the names of the Rules and Regulations Gu, this was after spending time. Under the threat of death, he had tried countless of times.

Yami was an expert in rules and regulations due to his five hundred years of experience in from past life.

After his rebirth, he believed that he could create a brilliant future. Not because of the Spring and Autumn Cicada, not because he knew many secret troves and treasures, not because he knew what the future held.

But because of the five hundred years of experience that he had gained as a person.

Just like how Genten controlled the Rules and Regulations Gu and was able to easily capture all the Gu in the world!

And Yami was so familiar with rules and regulations, thus he was able to look down upon the world and see through its truths and lies. Being meticulous and precise, or getting right to the heart of the matter. I proudly laugh as I stand on top of the world, coldly looking at the people in the world who behaved like pawns, obeying their respective rules and regulations, living their lives in a straightforward manner.

The rules and regulations of the darkness is darkness, and the rules and regulations of the light is light.

But the reborn demon had stepped foot under the path of light.


	6. A True Hero Doesn't Rely On Mere Luck

**A True Hero Knows Better Than To Rely On Luck**

The month of May was a transition between spring and summer.

The fragrance of flowers filled the air, the huge mountains evergreen and the sunlight began to gradually release its ardent side.

Under the clear azure skies, the white clouds drifted like cotton.

On Elemental Mountain, the bamboo forest was straight like spears as always, pointing towards the blue sky. Weeds grew wildly everywhere, and unknown varieties of wild flowers dotted the grass thicket. As the light breeze blew, the wild grass moved to and fro, the heavy fragrance of flower pollen and the smell of green grass assailing visitors.

Halfway up the mountain was a huge number of terraced fields. Layer by layer, step by step, the soft green wheat sprouts were planted down. From afar, it looked like a verdant green sea.

On the terraced fields were numerous farmers busily working away. There were some farmers cleaning the canal for the channeling of water to irrigate the fields, while some farmers were rolling up their trousers, standing in the fields and planting sprouts.

These people were naturally all mortal outsiders as the Konoha Clansmen would never have do these lowly jobs.

Ring, ring...

The sound of camel bells could be faintly heard in the spring breeze.

The farmers straightened their bodies as they headed down the mountain, only to see a caravan moving like a colorful worm from the mountain side, slowly showing its head.

"It's the merchant caravan!"

"Yes, it's already May, it is about time for the caravan to come."

The adults caught on the situation at once, and the children stopped playing with the water and clay in their hands. Together, they energetically approached the caravan.

The Southern Borders had a hundred thousand mountains - Elemental Mountain was just one of them. On every mountain, there were villages after villages, which were maintained by everyone through their blood relationships and kinships.

In between the mountains, the forests were deep and ominous, the cliffs steep and full of the dangerous falling rocks. Additionally, in the complex surroundings of the forest dwelled a large number of ferocious beasts and peculiar Gu worms.

Mortals could not pass through at all. It was difficult to get past these obstacles alone, one had to at least be a Rank three Gu Master.

Because of the poor economy, trading was difficult. Thus, the most important form of trading was through the caravan merchants. Only by organizing a merchant group in such a large scale could Gu Masters come together with the power to help each other, conquering the difficulties in the traveling routes and traversing from one mountain to another.

The merchant caravan's arrival was like a bowl of boiling water that poured into the peaceful and serene Elemental Mountain.

"All these past years they would come in April, but this year they only arrived in May. At least they're here now." The owner of the inn let out a deep breath upon hearing the news. The inn's business was poor in the other months, so only when the caravan came could he earn enough profit to last the year.

At the same time, there was some green bamboo wine within his storage that he could sell to the caravan merchants.

Besides the inn, the business at the tavern would also boom as a result.

The caravan merchants entered the Konoha mountain village one by one, lead by a Treasure Brass Toad. This toad was two and a half meters tall, its entire body orange-yellow in color. The back of the toad was thick and full of warts and knots. It was like the lumps of bronze nails on ancient city gates.

On the Treasure Brass Toad's back, thick ropes were tied around plenty of goods. At a glance, it seemed like the toad was carrying a giant backpack.

A middle-aged man with a circular face full of pockmarks sat cross-legged atop the toad. He was fat and had a large belly. Both of his eyes formed into slits when smiling. He cupped his fists as he greeted the surrounding Konoha villagers.

This man's name was Itachi of the Uchiha clan. His cultivation was at Rank four and he was the leader of the merchant caravan this time.

The treasure toad hopped slightly as it moved forward but Uchiha Itachi who was sitting on its head was stable and steady. When the toad hopped, his height would level with the windows on the second floor of a building. Even when he was back on the ground, he was at a height greater than the first level of the bamboo buildings.

The originally spacious streets were suddenly rather packed and narrow. The Treasure Brass Toad was like a beast that intruded into the midst of a great number of bamboo houses.

After the treasure toad was a huge fat worm. It had two eyes that were similar to multi-colored glass windows, the colors bright and gorgeous. The worm was fifteen meters long, its body shape resembling a silkworm. However, the surface of the worm was covered in a thick layer of black porcelain-like leather armor. On the armor was another abundant pile of goods and merchandise, a hemp rope tied around it. In between the gaps and intervals of the goods, Gu Masters sat one by one, some old and some young.

There were also mortals who were robust and sturdy martial warriors, slowly moving forward on the ground following after a fat black beetle.

After the fat beetle, there were ostriches with brightly colored feathers, hairy mountain spiders, winged snakes with two pairs of feathered wings and so on. However, these were in small numbers, most of the creatures were toads.

These toads were all similar to the Treasure Brass Toad, but they were smaller in size and had the build of cows and horses. The toads were carrying merchandise and people, their bellies bulging as they hopped forward.

The merchant caravan wound deep into the village.

Children on the road would look on curiously with wide eyes, calling out in joy or exclaiming in surprise.

The windows on the second stories opened one after another, the mountain villagers observing the merchants from a short distance. Some had eyes that flashed with fear and some others waved their hands to express a warm welcome.

"Old brother Itachi, you came a little late this year, you must have had a hard journey." Approaching with the identity of a clan head, Hiruzen Sarutobi came out himself to greet the leader of this year's merchant caravan.

As Uchiha Itachi had the status of a Rank four Gu Master, if a Rank three elder were to be in charge of receiving him, it would be undoubtedly be seen as a kind of negligence and scorn.

Uchiha Itachi cupped his fists and sighed, "This year's road was rather unfavorable. On the way we bumped into a group of Secluded Blood Bats and we lost quite a few good men. Then on Juubi Mountain we ran into a mountain fog, and we didn't dare to continue traveling at all. So we were delayed for quite a lot of time, and caused Brother to wait for quite awhile."

As they spoke, their tones were very polite.

The Konoha village needed the merchant caravans every year to come and trade, and the merchant caravan also needed business to make money.

"Heh heh heh, it's good enough that you are able to come. Please, the clan has prepared food and wine, let me host a welcoming dinner for you, old brother," Hiruzen Sarutobi stretched out his hand and said invitingly.

"Clan head is polite, too polite." Uchiha Itachi was flattered.

The merchant caravan arrived at the boundaries of the Elemental Mountain in the early morning, and by afternoon they were stationed in the Konoha village. When it was dusk, the surroundings of the village had formed into a widespread area of temporary shops and stores. All kinds of red, blue, yellow and green lofty tents were built and every inch between the tents was squeezed with numerous little street stalls.

The night was descending, yet it was still brightly lit in the area.

An endless stream of pedestrians spilled into the area from the village. There were mortals as well as Gu Masters. The little children hopped around in high spirits, and the adults showed an expression of joy akin to celebrating a festival.

Yami moved along with the crowd, walking alone.

The crowd was bustling with activity, groups of people either surrounding the stalls or endlessly pouring in and out of the entrance of the tents.

The surroundings were filled with the shouts of merchants hawking their wares.

"Come, come, take a look. Top notch Blue Sea Cloud tea brick, drinking this tea makes one as cheerful as a fairy! Even if it's not a person drinking, it can be used for feeding and raising tea Gu, it is a cheaply priced item for its value. One piece only costs five primeval stones!"

"Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, a Gu Master who uses this Gu will be able to burst out with the strength of a cow. You can walk away, but don't regret it!"

"Intimate Grass, high quality Intimate Grass. Everyone look at this quality, it's as fresh as if a newly picked one. One catty for two pieces of primeval stones, very cheap price..."

As Yami heard this, his footsteps paused slightly, then he followed the sound and walked over.

He saw an ostrich pulling a handcart with two wheels. On the handcart was a heap of pastel green herbs. Every blade of grass was a meter in length, slender and long. Their average width was around that of a fingernail. On some of the pointed tips of the grass grew red heart-shaped flower buds.

The Intimate Grass was one of a Gu worm's supplementary food type, its worth was stemmed from the fact that it could be used to pair up with a few other foods to feed a Gu worm.

For example, Yami needed to give two pieces of flower petals every meal to the Moonlight Gu when feeding it. If he mixed in a blade of Intimate Grass, the Moonlight Gu would be full just from eating one petal.

The Intimate Grass only costs two pieces of primeval stones per catty, while the moon orchid petal cost a primeval stone for every ten pieces. With a simple calculation, one would know that mixing the Intimate Grass in to feed the Gu would be more cost-effective.

"Half a month ago, because I used the Moonlight Gu in the academy to kill Akamaru, I was fined thirty primeval stones. However the Inuzuka Family paid me thirty primeval stones later as compensation, so I didn't really take any losses. In recent days I have robbed twice, my total number of stones amounts to 118. However, recently I continuously spent essence to refine middle stage primeval essence and nurture the four walls of my aperture, and I would use up three pieces of stones every day. Adding on the costs of feeding Gu, my own daily expenses and successively buying green bamboo wine, I have ninety-eight pieces at hand right now."

Ever since Yami killed a person, the cruel and callous image had deeply rooted itself into the hearts of the students and for a time no one dared to challenge him. This led to his plundering becoming much easier, as every time only a very small number would dare to resist.

Yami calculated in his heart, then he moved his line of sight and continued walking deeper into the heart of the setup of temporary stores.

The Intimate Grass stall was surrounded by a group of people. They were all either Gu Masters or students, holding primeval stones in their hands as they shouted and rushed to buy it.

It was not that Yami lacked the money to buy Intimate Grass, but he had no time.

"If memory serves, that Mudskin Toad should be in that store. In my previous life there was a Gu Master who got it from gambling on the first night, hence he earned big time. I must hurry, I cannot lose a great deal through trying to save a little."

The further one walked, the more flourishing and prosperous it was. Small street vendors lessened while large tents increased in number.

There were all sorts of large tents to be seen - red, blue, green, yellow, in different shapes and sizes, several being a cylindrical shape. Some erected two door pillars at the entrance of their tents, while others hung large red lanterns instead. Inside, some tents had vibrants lights, whereas others were dim and dark.

Yami observed his surroundings as he walked, finally stopping near a grey-coloured tent.

"It's here," he evaluated while looking at the tent; it had two pillars at the entrance, and there were carvings on the pillars, two lines of antithetical couplet.

The left side wrote, "Small display of courage, obtain good fortune during the four seasons."

The right side wrote, " Large display of skills, obtain good prosperity in all four directions."

In the middle there was still another line: "Luck changes with time."

That's right, this is a gambling den.

This gambling den took around one mu of land; it was considered a large-sized tent.

Yami walked inside. Inside of the tent, there was three rows of counters on a side. On the counter were pieces of amber or fossils. Some were as big as a palm, others were as big as a face. There were also others which were even bigger; those were as tall as a person. It obviously could not fit on the counter, thus it was directly placed on the ground.

Different from the other tent shops, it was silent in here.

Several Gu masters stood before the counters, some meticulously observing rocks on the display counter while others took the fossils and rubbed it in their hand to get a feel of it. There were some that were discussing quietly with their companions, and some were discussing the price with their shop clerks.

But no matter what they discussed, they spoke softly, doing their best not to disturb others.

This was a rock gambling den.

In the Gu world, there were all types of Gu, coming with different shapes and sizes and all sorts of effects. Gu worms have their respective food to consume. Without food, they can only last a short amount of time before dying.

But nature, towards lifeforms, was both uncaring and benevolent.

If they lacked food, the Gu worms still have a chance of survival. That was to hibernate, undergoing self-sealing.

For example, if the Moonlight Gu did not have Moon Orchid petals to consume, it may undergo self-sealing. It will try to maximise the conservation of its strength, like winter hibernation, falling into a deep slumber. At this time, not only would the blue glow on its body dissipate, it would also turn from a transparent crystal state into a grey rock, covered in a layer of rock shell. Eventually, the rock crust will get thicker and turn into a boulder.

Or for example the Liquor Worm, if it underwent self-sealing, it would form a white cocoon around it, curling its body and falling into a deep sleep within the cocoon.

Of course this situation of sealing and hibernating may not happen to every Gu worm. It has a small chance of occurrence, and in most cases, the Gu worm will not fall into hibernation but instead starve to death. Only a small number of Gu worms may, under specific situations, undergo self-sealing.

A few Gu Masters who accidentally obtain these sealed Gu worms' rocks or cocoons would awaken the Gu worms that were slumbering within. Thus they would have a stroke of fortune. Some of the Gu masters became successful due to this, it being a turning point in their lives. These situations happen frequently in the Gu Master world, often being fake or real rumors, giving people hopes and dreams.

The source of the idea behind this rock gambling den originated from these rumours. Of course, these rocks all looked alike on the outside. Only after opening them can one determine if there really is a Gu worm hidden inside.

"In a small-sized rock gambling den like this, nine out of ten rocks are solid core, having no Gu worms inside. Even if there are Gu worms inside the rock, they may not be living worms, most of them are dead Gu. But once someone hits the jackpot of a live Gu, under most situations, one would be able to earn a huge fortune. If the Gu worm is a rare species, they either become a successful person in life or get murdered and robbed of their fortune."

Yami was clear about this in his heart, being very familiar with the situation beyond these doors.

In his past life, he had participated in a merchant caravan before, being a clerk in the rock gambling den. Some time later, he even operated his own rock gambling den, even larger than this one; it was a medium-sized rock gambling den. He managed to con some gamblers, and also misjudged at times, allowing other gamblers to win a precious Gu worm.

Yami stood at the door for a while, taking a glance around him before slowly walking to the counter on the left side.

Behind the counter, there was a shop assistant every few metres, both males and females. On their waist hung a green coloured belt, showing that they were not ordinary people but Rank one Gu masters. Most were initial stages, while a selected few were middle stages.

Seeing Yami before a counter, a female Gu Master who was nearest by walked towards him and smiled, softly saying, "Young master, what Gu worm do you need? Every rock on this counter is sold at ten primeval stones each. If this is your first try, just for the sake of it, why don't you go to the right counter, the rocks there are sold at only five primeval stones. If you are seeking thrills, you can go to the high-end counter at the middle, the rocks sold there are at twenty primeval stones each."

This was an experienced female Gu Master, having worked at the rock gambling den for quite some time already.

She looked at Yami who entered, and determined that he was a student from his appearance, age and height etc.

Those that came to gamble were all Gu Masters. Students were only considered second-rate Gu Masters, just starting their cultivation. Because they're often tight on finance due to feeding their Gu worms, where would they find the money to come and gamble rocks?

Students like this, normally they just came to take a look and to get an eye-opening experience, satisfying their curiosity. Most were only window shoppers, though if some had well to do families, they might attempt to buy one to try. But most only bought the cheapest fossil.

Thus, the female Gu Master had no expectations towards how many rocks Yami could buy.

"Let me look around first." Yami nodded at her expressionlessly, then started to look seriously into the pile.

In his memory, it should be at this counter in this particular rock gambling den.

But it had been 500 years, it's been too long. Many things were vague to him already, especially when 500 years of memory was a huge capacity, so to be honest Yami could not remember distinctly.

He could only vaguely recall, that during this year on the first night the caravan arrived, a lucky bird spent ten primeval stones to buy a fossil with purple gold lustre.

After he opened it on the spot, he obtained a Mudskin Toad. Afterwards this toad Gu was bought by another person, thus causing him to earn a small fortune of primeval stones.

Yami frowned after observing for a while.

On this counter, fossils with a purple gold glow numbered up to twenty. In which rock was there a hidden Mudskin Toad?

Every rock here was sold at ten primeval stones each. Right now Yami had ninety-eight primeval stones with him, and he could buy up to a maximum of nine pieces.

But realistically, he could not count like this.

In any sort of risk and gamble, one had to consider the consequences.

Yami was no longer a greenhorn, like those gamblers who thought they were blessed by heaven. Those who thought they were blessed by fate were usually those who fell under the mischief of fate itself.

"I am alone, with no relatives or friends that can help me. I have to save some primeval stones to survive, as well as to buy food for my Gu worms." He counted and under the most basic reservation, he could buy at most seven pieces of fossils.

"This rock, the purple gold is dotted like the stars, but it's flat as a pancake, there's definitely no mudskin toad inside."

"This piece has striking purple gold colour, but it is only fist sized. if there really is a mudskin toad inside, the rock should be at least 30% larger."

"This purple gold fossil, well it's big, but the surface is extremely smooth, while the mudskin toad's skin is supposed to be rough and uneven, this is evidently not the one..."

Yami continued to observe and evaluate, using the method of cancellation.

When Gu worms hibernate after self sealing, they would form into a natural fossil, being undetectable from most of the world's detection methods. The remaining detecting methods were too rough, and once used, it would instantly kill the Gu worm within that is barely alive.

Thus, when Gu Masters choose rocks, they could only rely on their guessing, experience and luck, sometimes relying on a little bit of instinct.

Otherwise, this would not be called gambling.

Of course, in this wide wide world, there are countless wonders, and one cannot exclude the fact that a detection method which is extremely gentle exists, allowing a Gu Master to know if the rock contains a Gu worm.

Yami had heard of such rumors in his past life, but after experimenting, found that it was all lies.

Yami assumed privately, "If such a method really exists, it has to be a hidden legacy, controlled in the hands of a small number of mysterious people, having no impact on the gambling business."

It was still tame around the Elemental mountain region, but the more one moves east, the more prosperous gambling dens become. At the White Head mountain region, every family village had its own gambling den. In some large-sized forts, there were even large-sized gambling dens built. The three villages that were famous for their rock gambling were Hidden Sand Village, Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Reed Village, where there were even mega-sized gambling dens.

These three mega-sized gambling dens each had a thousand years of history. Currently, their business was still blooming, with an endless number of gamblers. There had never been a situation of clean sweep by anyone.

Currently, the tent that Yami was in can only be barely qualified as a small-sized gambling den.

If it was any other 15 year old who came, they would definitely be confused by all the different fossils, and even if they chose it, it would be by random guessing.

But Yami was different.

Firstly, he already knew a portion of the answer from the start, thus his search range shrunk to less than thirty pieces.

Of course, to find that one rock out of these twenty odd pieces was extremely difficult as well. But using his 500 years of experience as backing, with such a rich pool of information he picked out six pieces of purple gold fossils that best fit the criteria after observing for a while.

He had an 80% chance of confidence that the mudskin toad was hibernating within one of these six fossils!

"I want to purchase some rocks." Having picked his targets, Yami said to the female Gu Master.

"Newbie!" The female Gu Master immediately thought.

Even the shittiest gamblers would pay very close observation when they wanted to buy the rocks. First they would look carefully, then place the stones in their palms and rub to feel the surface and its weight. Even after such actions, if they find that the feeling is off, they would give up. No one would say 'purchase' at the start.

And for such a type like Yami, who said 'purchase' upfront, he is undeniably a newbie who is having his first rock gambling experience.

Although the female Gu Master thought this, she did not show any difference in her expression, but continued to smile like a flower, saying softly to Yami, "Then which piece are you choosing?"

Yami pointed and said, "This piece."

She immediately retrieved it.

Yami pointed again and said, "This piece."

She felt perplexed, not expecting this youngster to buy two pieces.

"It seems like this youngster is the type to gamble heavily," she evaluated mentally.

But next, Yami pointed yet again, "And this piece, that piece, I'm buying them all."

The female Gu Master was stunned, feeling extremely surprised, she could not help but assess Yami again.

"It seems like this ordinary looking youngster has a really good family background. Otherwise, how would any ordinary Gu Master have the spare cash to spend like this?" Thinking of it, the female Gu Master's smile became more gentle and friendly. To think that the youngster in front of her was a real customer.

This was an unexpected joy!

However, Yami surprised her once again as he pointed to the furthest purple gold rock, "Oh yeah, and those two pieces as well."

The female Gu Master could not help but feel shocked internally, "Which young master is this from the Konoha village? It looks like he's the main family branch's inheritor. If I can hook up with him, I may not need to stay here and slog as a shop clerk anymore."

With this thought, the female Gu Master's smile became even more gentle and she even looked towards Yami seductively.

Six rocks were placed in front of Yami.

Yami took out sixty primeval stones and passed it to the female Gu Master.

His act of payment attracted the attention of all the other Gu Masters in the tent.

"Oh? Someone is going to rock gamble."

"We've been watching for over an hour, but we haven't acted yet. Now that someone is giving it a try, we might as well watch."

"It's a student, he actually took out sixty primeval rocks at once, his family must be affluent. He looks like a greenhorn, hmph, gambling rocks isn't so easy. He's gonna get hurt real bad."

The Gu Masters stood on the spot, discussing softly, all directing their gaze towards Yami.

"Young master, do you want to open the rocks on the spot? Our gambling den provides free service to open the rocks." The female Gu Master gently advised, sending seductive glances with her eyes.

Yami used the corner of his eye to take a look at the crowd, his lips curling into a mysterious smile. He waved his hand, rejecting the female Gu Master. "Purple gold is my lucky color, and this is my first time betting, it is very meaningful. I'll open the rocks myself!"

The female Gu Master's eyes shone brighter, thinking, this heroic demeanour, as expected of a rich young master.

Never in her dreams would she be able to imagine that Yami could be said to be kinless in Konoha village, a drifter with no backing, having to rely on himself for everything.

"Tsk, so what if you have money."

"I wonder which rich kid this is, coming here to waste his parent's hard earned money!"

"Ignorant young lad, how can one choose the rocks based on lucky color, sigh, this act is simply akin to throw primeval stones into the water, and waiting to see the ripples for fun."

The Gu Masters in the tent lost their excitement at once. After thinking that Yami was a prodigal son, their already low expectations vanished into thin air.

Some Gu Masters even retracted their gaze and turn around to continue inspecting the fossils on the counter.

The changes to his surroundings did not affect Yami's state of mind at all. He expressionlessly activated the primeval essence within his primeval sea, pouring it into the Moonlight Gu.

The next moment, the crescent mark on his right palm emitted a faint water-like blue light.

Yami used this right hand to grab a purple gold rock, holding it in his palm. Next he closed his fingers and slowly rubbed against the surface of the fossil.

The blue light continued to shine, the waves of light rippling like water as the purple gold rock shrunk in size, large amounts of powder from rock shavings falling out from the gaps of Yami's fingers, landing on the carpet of the tent.

"Young master has good handiwork!" The female Gu Master took the chance and immediately praised.

"This youngster, he isn't a good-for-nothing. What great skills." Seeing this sight, the Gu Masters' eyes shone across with a complicated glint. They had started to see Yami in a new light.

Yami used the blue light to rub against the surface of the rock; this was a form of meticulous usage of the Moonlight Gu. Normally, one would have to use the Moonlight Gu for two to three years to be able to reach this level.

With Yami's age and student identity, being able to do this is really remarkable.

"See, he's using our Konoha Clan's specialty, the Moonlight Gu." Some of the Gu Masters found this and instantly felt proud, gaining affection for Yami.

"But opening the rocks with this method, it's still too rough." Some of the older and more experienced Gu Masters shook their heads.

The purple gold rock got smaller and smaller, from being slightly larger than a palm into the size of a fist, being gripped tightly by Yami's fingers.

The blue light intensified as the fossil became pearl-sized. Until finally, what was left was a pile of rock powder, falling on the carpet to form a small hill.

This was a solid rock, there was no Gu worm inside.

"As expected, he's unreliable." The Gu Masters shook their heads.

"Young master, there's still five pieces left," the female Gu Master encouraged.

Yami's expression was calm, being completely unaffected. He grabbed the second piece of purple gold rock and continued to grind. But the result of this piece was still a solid rock; there was no Gu worm inside.

The third piece was still the same.

The Gu Masters grew impatient. "Stop looking. By relying on color to pick the rocks, there's no point in this gamble."

"If he can get a good Gu from this, I'll eat the pile of rock powder on the floor!" Someone laughed insultingly.

"Don't lose heart young master, isn't there 3 pieces left, you're only halfway through," the female Gu Master continued to edge Yami on.

Yami grabbed the fourth piece, and when he got it to palm size, he suddenly stopped all action.

"Oh? There's something!"

"The rock composition changed, it's not purple gold sediments, but a kind of ink-black colour."

"Don't tell me he really got super lucky from blinding guessing?"

The surrounding Gu Masters exclaimed lightly.

"Young master, you have to be careful from here onwards. Don't make sudden movements, hibernating Gu worms are very fragile. If you use too much strength, you'll kill the Gu worm inside." The female Gu Master did not expect such a situation to occur. After getting stunned for a moment, she immediately advised carefully.

Yami's movements slowed, his fingers slowly rubbing as small powder slowly fell. Continuously repeating the action with many intervals, he was no longer as fluid as earlier.

The black coloured rock powder slowly fell off, and as the rock got smaller, Yami's movements became slower and gentler.

On the carpet, the rock powder continued to gather as Yami's black colored rock was finally scrapped clean.

"Sigh, what a pity, it's a rock in a rock."

"What a waste of my emotions, I really thought there was a Gu worm inside."

"You are all too easy to fool, is rock betting so easy? Nine out of ten are all empty, how else is the shop going to make money?"

"Young master, your luck is already not bad. Getting a rock in rock the first time, normal people cannot do it." The female Gu Master tried another way to console Yami, similarly it was to pave way for the result that awaited him.

Getting nothing out of gambling rocks was very common, a nine out of ten occurrence. In her opinion, Yami was choosing at random, the chance of getting a Gu fossil was close to zero.

Yami smiled but did not reply, and he continued to take out the fifth rock.

He carefully grinded, and in ten breath's time, the surface of purple gold coloured rock were all rubbed away, revealing a rough-surfaced yellow mud ball.

"Eh?"

"Don't tell me it's another rock in the rock."

"By the looks of it, probably. But it's a little strange, this mudball is enclosed by a purple gold rock surface. The mudball surface should be compressed smoothly, so why is the surface still uneven?" The surrounding Gu Masters were perplexed.

Looking at the mudball in his hands, Yami's expression did not change, but in his heart he was slightly moved.

He continued to grind. Under the blue watery light, the powdery sand fell off. Among the powder, there were some soil crumbs mixed in it, falling onto the pile of rock powder beside his leg.

"Don't tell me there's really something?!" Upon seeing this, some of the Gu Masters stared with their eyes wide-opened.

"It's hard to say," someone spoke with an uncertain tone.

"I feel like there is, there's really something." Another spoke softly.

The yellow mudball gradually decreased in size due to the friction, and when it was palm-sized, someone barged into the tent. "Young lad, hold up. I, Uchiha Sasuke, will be buying it!"

Yami's movement came to a halt, at once , the Gu Masters in the tent all focused their attention on this person.

He looked young on the outside, his appearance around twenty to twenty-five years old. He wore a golden-coloured robe with a lace belt on his waist, and on the belt there was a square shaped jade piece. There was a word across the piece of jade, showing the letter "One".

Evidently, this was a Rank one Gu Master.

To still be a Rank one Gu Master at twenty years old, it seems that his talent isn't good.

But the status of this person was rather unique. Seeing him, the Gu Masters in the tent all bowed and greeted him, saying together, "Your subordinate greets you, second young master."

"Second young master?"

"He called himself Uchiha Sasuke earlier, is he the half-brother of the Merchant Caravan Leader, Uchiha Itachi…"

"This means to say, this rock gambling den is opened by him. But now that he appeared to interfere, it seems that he's breaking the gambling den's rules," the Gu Masters softly conversed.

"That's right, I am this shop's shopkeeper. Little brother, coming out to gamble at such a young age, aren't you afraid of your family's scolding? I will offer forty primeval stones now to buy that mudball in your hand. What do you think? Forty primeval stones is a lot already and there may not be a Gu inside, but today I am in a good mood. Thus seeing that this is your first time gambling, I don't want you to lose everything, so I'll give you a portion of your capital back." Uchiha Sasuke quickly walked in front of Yami and said.

"Forty primeval stones?" Yami raised his eyebrows slightly and took a look at Uchiha Sasuke with the corner of his eye, coldly laughing, "It seems you want to forcefully buy the mudball fossil in my possession? Forceful purchase is spoiling the gambling den's rules. Furthermore you're now on Elemental Mountain, you want to bully a Konoha Clansman like me in front of everyone? "

"Oh?" On hearing Yami's last sentence, all the other Gu Masters could not take it and animosity grew uncontrollably in them as they looked towards Yami's direction. Their expression towards Uchiha Sasuke also became unfriendly.

Uchiha Sasuke had thought a fifteen year old like Yami would be easy to deal with, easily persuaded with a few words. But to think this Yami had such capabilities, and with a single sentence, he caused Uchiha Sasuke to be in such a predicament.

Seeing the Gu Masters getting ready to interfere, Uchiha Sasuke's expression changed immediately as he changed his tone, quickly waving his hands, "Little brother, you're mistaken! I am the shopkeeper of this gambling den, how could I ruin my own reputation by breaking my own rules? How would I be able to conduct business in the future? Hehehe. I just found your mudball a little interesting, thus I wanted to buy it. If you do not wish to sell it, that's fine. But if there's nothing inside later, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Yami paid no more attention to him. He turned around and continued to focus on grinding the mudball in his hands.

His movements were very slow and very meticulous. Often, there was only a hint of dry soil powder falling off after a moment or so. Following his movement, a hibernating Gu worm

gradually appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

"My god, there really is a Gu worm!"

"He really opened a Gu!"

"What the hell, this sort of method of gambling can also work?"

"This young man's luck is off the charts, he actually managed to forcefully luck out on getting a Gu."

Immediately, the Gu Masters' exasperation filled the tent.

The female Gu Master subconsciously covered her mouth, being unable to believe the scene before her.

As shop clerk, along the way she had been to many mountain villages, seen all sorts of people and all kinds of customers, but she had never seen such a comedic scene.

"There is really a Gu!" Cold light flashed across Uchiha Sasuke's eyes as he hated and regretted in his heart. The thing he hated most, was to be taken advantage of.

This gambling den that he opened, he had placed many surveillance methods. Once a customer was about to open a Gu, he'd receive the news and would normally forcefully buy it.

But now Yami was inside his gambling den, getting a Gu under his very eyes. Uchiha Sasuke could feel his heart bleeding.

What he obtained, was a toad Gu.

Its entire body was yellow from head to foot. The belly was light yellow, and its back was brownish yellow, covered with many pimply boils, full of nodules and warts which were a distinctive characteristic of the toad species. At one glance, it looked slightly horrifying.

It was not big, being only palm-sized. Holding it in the palm was akin to holding two to three eggs.

Yami's expression was calm under all sorts of admiration, envy and exasperation, carefully deploying his primeval essence and injecting it into the toad's body.

At this moment, the Gu was being refined by Yami.

Gu worms obtained from within fossils are normally extremely weak. Not only do they have little to no strength left, their consciousness is also lazy, leaving them defenseless and unable to resist. Thus, they can be easily refined by the Gu masters.

Upon being awakened by Yami, the toad Gu opened its eyes slowly, and its belly slightly vibrated, softly calling out.

Croak.

Its voice was soft but it made everyone's expression very interesting.

The difference in value between a Gu that was alive against one that was dead was huge.

"It's a live Gu, he really opened a live Gu!" Someone rubbed his eyes, unable to believe this.

"This is the Mudskin Toad, damn it, it really is the Mudskin Toad!" Someone recognised the toad Gu's identity and screamed agitatedly.

"This young man really has got luck, why don't I have such luck on my side!" Someone sighed, filled with complicated emotions such as envy, jealousy and hatred.

"Young master, congratulations! This, this, this is to date, my first time seeing such a precious Gu worm!" The female Gu Master was shocked beyond words, her eyes glistening with life.

"It's actually the Mudskin Toad! This is a rare Rank two Gu worm, its value worth five hundred primeval stones. Damn it, damn. Someone actually managed to open such a Gu worm in my shop. I've lost big time, big time!" Uchiha Sasuke's face was pale as he stared daggers at the toad, his heart having a strong urge to just snatch the Gu away.

But he knew he couldn't, for if he really did that, it would be asking for trouble.

This was not his family's village, but the Konoha Clan's territory.

"Maybe I should've paid a bit more primeval stones, maybe he might have given it to me. That's right, he's just a student. If I offered a hundred primeval stones, there's no way he'd not be moved. Why didn't I do that?" Uchiha Sasuke was full of regret.

"No, maybe this young lad does not know his stuff. Even though he opened a Mudskin Toad, I should be able to suppress the price and buy it!" Uchiha Sasuke's heart had renewed hope.

But at the next moment, this hint of hope was mercilessly smashed by Yami's words.

Yami plainly looked at the Mudskin Toad in his hands, ignoring the surrounding people's praises and shock.

He used an extremely calm tone and said to Uchiha Sasuke, "Mudskin Toad, Rank two Gu worm, requires five hundred grams of yellow soil every meal, the more fertile the soil the better. Its species is few in number and it is the necessary main Gu in refining the Treasure Brass Toad. The market price is five hundred primeval stones. Uchiha Sasuke, do you want to buy this?"

"You, actually know so clearly…" Uchiha Sasuke mumbled. After such a shock, he could not say a word.

Yami laughed lightly and continued, "If you're unwilling, that's fine. I'll sell it to someone else, I'm sure someone will be interested."

"Hold it, wait, I'll buy it, I'll buy it. But can't this price be cheaper?" Uchiha Sasuke's smile turned bitter.

Yami turned around and walked away.

Uchiha Sasuke hurriedly chased after him. "Don't! Don't go! I'll buy, I'll buy it!"

Yami had no plans to nurture this Mudskin Toad.

It was a Rank two Gu, but Yami was still a Rank one initial stage. Although it ate yellow soil, Elemental Mountain was full of green soil, hence finding food for it would be troublesome.

Moreover, if he does not sell this Gu worm, Yami would have to feed three Gu worms himself. Putting aside the increased primeval stone expenditure, even the current amount of primeval stones in his possession would not be enough to feed them.

Thus, Yami's plan was to immediately sell away the Mudskin Toad, get the five hundred primeval stones and earn a fortune.

To a Rank one initial stage like Yami, five hundred primeval stones was considered a large amount already.

The transaction was quickly completed and Yami transferred the Mudskin Toad to Uchiha Sasuke in front of the crowd, at the same time accepting five heavy money bags. Each bag had a hundred primeval stones.

Yami originally had ninety-eight primeval stones, and after spending sixty on gambling rocks, he had thirty-eight left. Now, his fortune multiplied many times, and he owned five hundred and thirty-eight primeval stones.

Upon seeing this, many Gu masters turned green with envy.

Yami put the five bags in his bosom before taking the last piece of purple gold fossil and walked out of the tent.

"Young master, you're not opening that fossil?" The female Gu Master blinked rapidly and stared at Yami's back, loudly reminding him.

Yami paid no heed and left the gambling den without turning back.

He left behind a gang of stunned Gu Masters, staring at each other silently.

UchihaSasuke calling Yami little brother is a way of greeting; they are not related in any way.

The green copper primeval sea had tides rising and falling, ebbing and flowing.

Above the sea level, the Liquor worm curled into a ball, emitting the wine vapour that gradually developed into white mist.

A surge of primeval essence with a "swoosh", rushed up against the tide and into the wine mist. When the tide receded, there was already half left, and the colour was even darker. From initial stage jade green, it had converted into middle stage pale green.

Middle stage primeval essence fell into the sea, but it did not mix with the initial stage primeval essence. As if it was denser, it sank to the bottom.

Thus, the situation became that the upper layer of the primeval sea was filled with initial stage primeval essence, while the lower half was middle stage primeval essence.

As time flowed, the wine mist circulated within the aperture. Under the refinement of the Liquor worm, eventually, the initial stage primeval essence continued to decrease, while the middle stage primeval essence gradually increased.

It could be seen with the naked eye where the lower layer middle stage primeval essence gradually rose, while the upper layer initial stage primeval essence continued to decrease, but also rose in sea level.

As Yami refined his primeval essence, he extracted the natural essence from the primeval stones at the same time, quickly replenishing the dwindling primeval essence in his aperture.

Finally, the 45% primeval sea in his aperture was fully refined into middle stage primeval essence.

"Much thanks to the middle stage primeval essence, or else I would not have been able to open the rocks five times in the gambling den." Sitting in a lotus position on his bed, Yami gradually opened his eyes.

It was currently late at night.

After he walked out of the gambling den, he did not tour around any of the other shops, but instead headed back to the academy.

Although it was at the fringe of the Konoha Mountain Village, as a Rank one initial stage Gu master, owning five hundred and thirty eight primeval stones is still too much.

This is not only because the primeval stones were heavy and a hassle to bring around. It also attracts other people's coveting; in another sense, it would endanger his life.

If there was a Rank one upper stage, or even a Rank two who coveted his assets, with Yami's current ability he would not be able to contend.

"Wealth comes and goes, but humans die because of wealth, it's pathetic. What's laughable is that many people in this world cannot comprehend that. The boat of benefits carries many people, but has also sunk many others." Yami's lips curled into a cold smirk as he looked at the grey white primeval stones in his hands.

A complete primeval stone was around the size of a duck egg. But the stone in his hand, as it had been extracted of half of its essence, was an entire circle smaller.

Yami did not regret it.

Everything has its gains and losses. Yami was only a C grade talent, yet he was using the Liquor Gu to refine his primeval essence, and his primeval stones expenditure was multiple times of the people of his age. Yet it was because of this that he was able to overcome the lack of his talent. If the real cultivation pace could be counted, he would be able to rank first three.

Yami put the primeval stones back into his money bag and took out that final purple gold fossil.

He bought a total of six fossils at the gambling den and opened five on the spot, bringing the last one back with him.

His eyes shone as he activated the Moonlight Gu, grinding with five fingers, slowly dissecting the rock.

The purple gold fossil gradually shrunk under the blue ripples, and finally was grinded to nothingness, leaving behind a pile of powder on the ground.

Yami was not surprised, because in rock gambling, you lose nine out of ten times.

Even with his five hundred years of experience, he could only manage eight losses out of ten times. And in the remaining two times, it depended on whether it was a live Gu or a dead Gu.

Dead Gu had basically no value. As for live Gu, they might not be a rare type of Gu worm, and even if it was a tremendously precious Gu, one might attract a life-threatening crisis because of it.

Yami's current cultivation level was still very low, it was at the bottom tier of the Gu Masters. The Mudskin Toad that he obtained earlier, if it weren't for the fact that this was the Konoha Mountain Village, it might have been forcefully snatched away by that Uchiha Sasuke.

Gambling was never the way for developing family wealth, and in fact it was a bigger cause of bankruptcy and debt. This was not the development path that Yami wanted to take.

Although the final purple gold fossil did not have a Gu worm, Yami was not disappointed. In fact he looked at the pile of rock powder and gradually broke into a smile.

Indeed, his ultimate motive in entering the gambling den was all for this pile of rock powder. That Mudskin Toad was only something he had gotten out of convenience.

He privately opened the fossil, and other than him, nobody knew the truth of this result.

From that day forth, he could claim that the Liquor worm was awakened and subdued from the purple gold fossil.

This idea was fabulous.

Firstly, nobody could confirm what Gu worm really exists in the fossils. Who would dare say that the Liquor worm could not hibernate within the purple gold fossil? That's completely possible!

Secondly, he had several eyewitnesses. He opened the Mudskin Toad, which would've left a strong impression on the Gu Masters in the gambling den.

Thirdly, even if someone relentlessly questioned him, he could push everything onto his luck. Luck was something unfathomable. Even if someone suspected that this was the Flower Wine Monk's Liquor worm, against an excuse like 'luck' they'd have no idea how to argue against Yami.

Within the dark room, Yami's expression was ominous.

One-sided covering up was akin to covering fire with paper. There would be a day where he would be exposed.

To get rid of a hidden threat like the Liquor worm, he'd have to strike first. This is Yami's style.

Moreover, he had thought about it carefully, and in the cultivation process that was to follow, he would need to expose the Liquor worm.

"For a Rank one Gu like the Liquor worm, it is extremely precious to Rank one Gu Masters. But for Rank two Gu Masters, it is no longer compatible for them. Thus even if this was exposed, all I would get is some attention, but it would not affect the overall situation, thus becoming nothing to be concerned over. It is not like the Spring and Autumn Cicada. If the Spring and Autumn Cicada is exposed, I might die a horrible death at the very next moment."

Five hundred years of experience in handling problems had already made Yami extremely familiar with human mentality, with their every thought clear as day to him.

"The Flower Wine Traveler's legacy and the Mudskin Toad, among my memories these are the only two treasures here, and now that they have been obtained by me, what I can do next is only gradual and steadfast cultivation."

Yami sighed a deep breath and relaxed his body, feeling a strong sense of fatigue engulfing him.

A Gu Master's primeval sea cultivation could not replace sleep.

Yami pulled his blanket and lay down on his bed, his eyes still half open.

Although there were five hundred primeval stones hidden under the bed, as well as many pots of Green Bamboo Wine, he still felt a sense of urgency and danger.

These five hundred over primeval stones were already a form of limit. From flourish to decline, Yami was clear that henceforth his primeval stone expenditure would only get bigger.

But his income was mostly from extorting his classmates.

He had been increasingly feeling the growth and improvement of his classmates. Especially in the recent few extortions, Inuzuka Gaku, Shino, and his brother Uzumaki Naruto, had greatly improved in their kicks and punches. Previously he only needed one or two strikes to take them down, but now he needed five or six.

"Another three to four plunders, and their punches and kicks would've been polished fully. If they challenge me one by one, with my current stamina, I cannot endure that kind of round robin battle. Five hundred primeval stones might seem a lot, but with my current expenditure of four stones a day, it is actually not that much."

"Elemental Mountain already has no treasures left, but nearby on the White Bone Mountain, there is a secretly built strength inheritance of a Rank four Gu Master of the righteous path.

"Sigh, it still boils down to the Flower Wine Monk's treasure being too little, only giving me a Liquor worm. Hmm… there is still that film image wall, maybe I can sell it to a certain merchant in the caravan…"

Yami thought as his eyelids grew heavier until he finally fell asleep.

On the second day in the afternoon during lunch break, Yami went to the shopping district outside the mountain village again.

As many of them had to work in the day, there was not many villagers at the tentage area.

Yami walked to the area where the vendor was selling Intimate Grass last night, according to his memory. He reached only to see an empty cart, still on the spot. An ostrich was dragging the cart along.

It stood on the spot proudly, its body size as large as an ostrich while having the appearance of a chicken, the back of the creature bulged into a curved angle. A pair of wide wings were collected on the side of its body, the feathers splendidly bright in seven colours. The chicken head was raised tall, its huge red cockscomb like an agate crown, flashing with the luster of a gem under the sunlight.

"It seems I was still too late, the Intimate Grass was sold out. What a pity, if I were able to buy a few catty of Intimate Grass, I'd be able to save quite a bit of primeval stones." Yami's footsteps came to a halt as he walked away and continued to venture deeper into the area.

"Come, have a taste of the delicious wine from all the different villages. There are more than a hundred types of wine here, like the Lantern Grass Wine, the Nine Tune Wine with a strong aftertaste, the light and elegant Ancient Dragon Well, the sweet and sour Flower Rock Tune, the mouth-watering Hundred Spring Old Cellar, the rich and heavy fragrant Intoxication of Three Autumns…" In front of a blue round bucket before the tent, a shop assistant was hawking with gusto.

A light flashed through Yami's gaze as he immediately grew interested. With a turn, he entered the wine shop.

The decor in the wine shop was very unique.

At the most inner part of the tent, there was a long counter. A Gu Master was stationed there, with tens of crystal ladybugs around the size of wicker-baskets behind him, sticking onto the tent's cloth walls.

On the floor there was no carpet, but rather the uncovered mountain rocks and soil. Among the soil, vibrant coloured mushrooms grew.

These mushrooms had all sorts of colours, looking round and slightly cute. Some were as large as tables, while others were short like benches. They were often distributed where a large table mushroom was surrounded by a few shorter bench mushrooms.

"This is the Innocent Mushroom, purposely grown by a Gu Master. It has the ability to absorb dust and particles in the air to purify it, and it's a type of grass Gu." Yami could recognise the mushroom's origins immediately upon seeing them.

He chose one of the short mushrooms and sat down. The mushroom's surface immediately sank down a little, making Yami feel like he was sitting on a sofa like those on the Shinobi World.

"Young master, this is the wine catalogue, would you like to take a look?" A shop assistant walked over.

Yami glanced at the wine catalogue and realised that the wine here was more expensive than the green bamboo wine.

"I'll have a cup of monkey wine." Yami put down the catalogue.

"A cup of monkey wine!" The shop assistant turned around and shouted.

At the counter, the Rank one Gu Master heard and immediately bent down to take out a bamboo wine cup.

Next he took the wine cup and turned around, facing the tentage. On the blue tent walls were the tens of crystal ladybugs, head facing downwards and tail facing upwards, quietly latched onto the walls as if they were merely decorations for the tent.

These crystal ladybugs were also a type of Gu. Its stomach was empty, as they were often used by Gu Masters to carry precious liquids.

Their bodies were transparent, as if they were made of crystals. From the outside, one could see that within the ladybug's stomach, different kinds of liquor could be found.

The Gu Master quickly found the crystal ladybug that contained the monkey wine among them.

He placed the bamboo wine cup at the mouthpiece of the ladybug, and gently stroked the exoskeleton of the ladybug with his other hand.

A small amount of primeval essence entered the crystal ladybug's body, and afterwards it opened its mouth and a gush of liquor flowed into the bamboo wine cup.

The liquor splattered around in the cup until it was full.

The Gu Master placed the bamboo wine cup which was filled with monkey wine on the counter. The shop assistant who had already been waiting for a while quickly held up the cup meticulously and walked a few steps to deliver it to Yami.

Yami only took a tiny sip, the monkey wine was indeed a fruit liquor, being sweet and refreshing and delicate on the palate.

He stopped drinking, but instead with a thought, Yami summoned the Liquor worm.

The white and fat liquor worm turned into a flash of white light and curved an arc in the air. With a 'plop', it landed in the wine cup.

The wine splattered everywhere, sprinkling onto the mushroom table.

The Liquor worm joyfully beat about in the wine cup, and the monkey wine could be seen decreasing with the naked eye. In a few breaths time, the cup had dried out, with not a single drop left.

"It's the Liquor worm!" The Gu Master at the counter shouted, his eyes sparkling. He was a Rank one Gu Master with Grade D talent, only able to follow the merchant caravan and work in this wine shop. His objective was to sightsee while finding his chances.

The Liquor worm can refine primeval essence and raise it by an entire realm. To a Rank one Gu Master, it can be said to be an extremely precious Gu worm. Isn't this the chance he's been painstakingly searching for?

"This young master, do you have any plans to sell this Liquor worm?" He excitedly approached, a look of sincerity in his eyes.

Yami shook his head, rejecting him with a determined attitude, getting up to leave after that.

His motive this time was to reveal the Liquor worm in his possession; he had never thought of selling it.

"Young master, young master, please hold on. I am really sincere about this, maybe we can sit down and have a discussion." The Gu master reluctantly followed Yami to the tentage entrance but Yami did not show any response to him.

In the end he could only stand on the spot, his expression extremely regretful as he watched Yami's rear view turn around a corner and disappear into the midst of the horizon.


	7. A True Hero Doesn't Hesitate To Kill

**A True Hero Doesn't Hesitate Like A Pussy To Kill Others**

Unconsciously, the sun gradually set as the crescent moon took its place.

In the night, the moonlight shone brightly but was overpowered by the numerous street lights in the merchant shops.

The merchant shop tonight was swarming with business. Yami was squeezed left and right as he entered, hearing all sorts of conversations inadvertently.

"The stores normally open for three days and three nights. Tonight is already the second night, by the morning of the day after, the merchant caravan would have left on their journey already. Thus, we have to hurry if we want to buy anything."

"I saw a Golden Bell Gu yesterday, sigh, too bad it was too expensive. After haggling with the shopkeeper for a long time, it did not get any cheaper. I'll go and take a look tonight."

"Did you guys hear? Last night, a young man opened a Mudskin Toad and earned a profit of five hundred primeval stones!"

…

Yami listened attentively, feeling disappointment in his heart as he did not hear anything about the Liquor worm.

"The Liquor worm is only a Rank one Gu worm but it is extremely meaningful to a rank 1 Gu Master, yet it's useless to a Rank two or Rank three Gu Master as they are unable to refine their primeval essence any further with it. Thus it is normal that no one paid attention to this. However taking the initiative to expose the matter of the Liquor worm cannot be rushed for a period of time. If I overdo it, it might end up letting the cat out of the bag." As Yami walked, he pondered silently in his heart.

At this point, there was a hustle in front of him.

Next, Yami heard someone shout, "Quickly come and see, there's a dishonest merchant here selling fake Gu to our clansmen!"

Anger stirred among the crowd.

"Oh? There's something like that happening."

"Go and see quickly, which shop dares to cheat our clansmen!"

Yami followed the crowd and moved towards the commotion as well.

What met his eyes were a group of people surrounding the mouth of a large red tent, the massive crowd swarming it. Some were curiously watching while others stared coldly, but most of the people were enshrouded with a sense of anger.

Outside the tent stood two people.

One of them was a young Rank two Gu Master, whose attire showed that he was obviously from the Konoha Clan.

The other person had a familiar face - it was the owner of the gambling den, Uchiha Sasuke.

The young Gu Master held a black Gu worm in his hands, raising it up and shouting to the crowd, "My clansmen, this person in front of me sold me a fake Gu yesterday. Lying to me that it was a Black Boar Gu, and sold it to me for two hundred and fifty primeval stones. To think that when I got home to refine it, I realized that it was not a Black Boar Gu but simply an ordinary stinky fat worm!"

Uchiha Sasuke laughed coldly, "Don't accuse me falsely. Since when did I tell you it was a Black Boar Gu? What proof do you have?"

The young Gu Master on seeing Uchiha Sasuke's denial, fell into a rage and grabbed Uchiha Sasuke's wrist, "You cunning merchant, you dare to deny it! You actually dare to lie to me of the Konoha Clan on Elemental Mountain itself, are you trying to look for death?!"

"Let go of me!" Uchiha Sasuke was also furious as he flicked his wrist, slapping away the young Gu Master's hand, "If you want to find trouble and extort money, you should find a better target. I am not afraid of you! My brother is Uchiha Itachi, a Rank four Gu Master, what can you do to me?"

"You!" The young Gu Master stared with his eyes wide, but did not dare to take action. The name of a Rank four Gu Master was enough to intimidate him.

"Bah!" Uchiha Sasuke spat on the ground, raising his head and looked at the young Gu Master, laughing in disdain, "It was you who wanted to take advantage of the cheap Gu. Didn't you use your brain to think, why a Black Boar Gu which can raise a Gu master's strength, being such a rare Gu worm, was sold even more cheaply than a Liquor worm? It is normally sold at six hundred primeval stones. Did you think that you could buy one for just two hundred and fifty primeval stones? Dream on!"

"Bastard…" The young Gu Master gritted his teeth, his face flushing red as he trembled out of anger, his chest burning with the rage of humiliation.

There were chatters among the people as they got restless, discussing furiously. But no one dared to step up, for the Rank four Gu Master status of Uchiha Itachi was like a giant hill in front of them, stabilizing the crowd.

"This lad is too vicious, what a cunning merchant!"

"No wonder he dared to be so arrogant on Elemental Mountain, he is actually Uchiha Itachi's little brother."

"I heard that they are just half-brothers, but even with that Rank one cultivation, he is able to use this relationship to act unrestrained in the caravan."

"What happened here exactly?" At this moment, a loud voice spoke out.

"Uchiha Itachi is here!"

"The leader is here to settle the dispute, everyone give way."

The discussion came to a halt as everyone separated and formed a narrow path between them.

A middle-aged Gu Master having a muscular short body coupled with a giant belly, walked in. He wore a long-sleeved yellow robe, being the leader of the merchant caravan, Uchiha Itachi.

"Sir Uchiha Itachi, my regards." The young Gu Master was furious but did not dare to say anything. He forced himself to endure the anger and paid respects to Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Sasuke was frozen on the spot, not expecting his brother to arrive, his face suddenly pale as anger flashed across his eyes.

This peculiar expression was captured by Yami who was observing from afar as he pondered about the situation.

"Hello, young Gu Master, what is the problem here?" Uchiha Itachi walked to the middle of the crowd and asked amicably.

The young Gu Master was flattered and he cupped his fists again. Looking at the surrounding clansmen, he bucked up his courage and explained the entire situation.

"So that's what happened!" Uchiha Itachi nodded while listening. Next, he asked Uchiha Sasuke, "Little brother, is this true?"

Uchiha Sasuke turned his head away and snorted coldly, not looking at his brother.

Uchiha Itachi pondered solemnly.

The surrounding people were silent, not daring to interrupt his thoughts. All awaited in anticipation of his verdict.

This matter was in fact, due to Uchiha Sasuke's scam, but the young Gu Master was also at fault for being greedy and not being vigilant himself, otherwise he would not have gotten cheated.

If Uchiha Itachi wanted to defend his brother, with his Rank four cultivation, even the Konoha Clan leader could not do anything.

Uchiha Itachi thought for a while before finally speaking. "I've understood the situation, my brother is at fault for this matter, causing this young man to suffer a loss and buy fake products, I am really sorry!" Saying so, he cupped his fists towards the young Gu Master.

"Sir Uchiha Itachi!" The young Gu Master was largely surprised, and quickly said modestly, "You are a Rank four Gu Master, I am merely a Rank two, this is too much for me, too much!"

Uchiha Itachi waved his hand: "Hehe, this has nothing to do with cultivation levels, I act impartially regardless of ability. A wrong is a wrong, I apologise to you on behalf of the merchant caravan. As for compensation, how about this, you lost two hundred and fifty primeval stones, so I will compensate double that amount to you on behalf of the Uchiha Family."

He executed his promise immediately, as a follower took out five money bags and handed it to the young Gu Master in public.

Every money bag was filled to the brim, each containing a hundred primeval stones.

The young Gu Master took over the money bag, so overwhelmed that he could not say anything.

"However, I have a word of advice to you." Uchiha Itachi continued and reminded, "A Black Boar Gu is very rare, for it is able to raise a Gu Master's strength permanently. Although it is only Rank one, it is very hard to find on the market. Every time one appears in the market, it would be bought immediately. The pricing is around six hundred primeval stones. Trying to get one with two hundred and fifty primeval stones is impractical."

"Junior has learnt his lesson!" The young Gu Master bowed deeply to Uchiha Itachi in gratitude.

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Sir Uchiha Itachi is brilliant!"

"Magnificent, as expected of Sir Uchiha Itachi!"

"As a Rank four Gu Master, he did not make use of his status to bully the weaker party, Sir Uchiha Itachi really is the role model of the righteous path."

"No, no." Uchiha Itachi smiled, cupping his fists towards the crowd, modestly saying, "Our Uchiha Family business bases our principles on trust and honesty. Everyone, my brother is young and foolish, liking to play pranks on others. He is actually very kind, I hope everyone can be more bearing of him, don't take it to heart."

The crowd's cheers became even louder.

"Hmph!" Uchiha Sasuke's expression was ugly as he stomped on the ground and walked into the tent. Next he walked out from the back of the tent.

Yami looked at this silently, thinking in his heart, "It seems that the image wall at the Flower Wine Monk's place can be sold."

The Flower Wine Monk had used a Photo-audio Gu to record the ugly acts of the 4th generation Konoha Clan leader. Before he died, with indignance in his heart, used the Photo-audio Gu and slapped it on the wall, creating an image wall. The image wall's images continued to loop, showing the truth to the people.

With the intention of maximizing his profits, Yami had wanted to sell this image wall long ago. He believed that the other two clan families on Elemental Mountain, the Kiri family and Iwa family would be very interested in this image wall.

But to sell this personally would be very inappropriate. His cultivation was too weak and if he brought this image wall to the other villages, he could easily be silenced.

Even if the transaction was successful and he managed to return safely, there was no secret that would stay a secret forever, and once it was revealed to the Konoha's higher-ups, he would be kicked out of the clan family at best.

In accordance to Yami's plans, he still needed to make use of the Konoha Clan. Thus, the safest way was to sell it to a certain merchant in the caravan. All of them were outsiders, and were not involved in the disputes among the villages, thus it was the best choice for him.

In just one day, this caravan would leave the Konoha mountain village and lead towards either the Iwa family or the Kiri family.

Yami could reduce his risks to the minimum by selling to them; it was the safest method.

…

"One more cup!"

"Wine, where's the wine?"

"Quickly get me the wine, are you afraid that I'm unable to pay?"

Uchiha Sasuke slammed the mushroom table as he howled.

"Young master, here's your wine!" The clerk quickly brought him his wine.

Uchiha Sasuke grabbed the bamboo cup and tilted his head and gulped the liquor.

"Good wine!" He laughed loudly, sounding coarse and bleak.

With a bang, he placed the cup on the table and howled again. "Get me another glass, I want as many as you can supply!"

The clerks did not dare to offend him and could only do as he said.

Luckily, this wine house was already full of people. Not only were the mushroom tables packed with people, even the surrounding streets were packed with people. Uchiha Sasuke's drunkard temperament was not very peculiar in this bustling street.

Uchiha Sasuke drank cup by cup, wanting to drown his sorrows. With his back facing the crowd, no one observed that as he drank, two clear lines of tears flowed down his cheeks.

Who would know of his pain, his sorrow?

A hateful person has to have his pitiful side, conversely. Everybody had their own stories.

Amongst his brothers, he was the youngest, being the most handsome and resembling his father the most, thus being the most doted by his father. But heaven made fun of him by giving him only D grade talent.

As he grew up, he lived under the pressure of his brothers. He was indignant and wanted to resist, but with that talent, there was nothing he could do.

His father felt death approaching and wanted to split his assets. Two people were to lead a merchant caravan. They pledged to break up the family property in accordance to the results.

Uchiha Sasuke wanted to rely on his own method to acquire the family assets and the recognition of his clan. But to think that he became his brother's stepping stone once again.

When Uchiha Itachi appeared, he knew he fell into a trap. This was a scheme right from the beginning. But what could he do? Once he entered this caravan, he was doomed to be Uchiha Itachi's fodder. Rank four and Rank one was such a huge gap that he was powerless to fight again.

"Uchiha Itachi!" He forced this name out of his mouth, his eyes burning with the flames of hatred, he was unable to take it lying down!

"Do you wish to deal with your brother? I can help you." At this time, he heard a voice.

Uchiha Sasuke was stunned but when he turned around, he saw that for quite a while, there was someone sitting beside him.

He shook his head and blinked a few times, finally seeing who it was.

Who else if not for Yami?

"It's you!" He stared at Yami, slightly angry, "I remember you! Lucky lad, getting a Mudskin Toad from my gambling den! You're here to mock me?"

Yami looked at Uchiha Sasuke, his eyes cold as water. "I have a huge business, so if you wish to acquire better results and get more assets, why not listen to me?"

Uchiha Sasuke was suspicious. His back straightened and he sat up, "How do you know about the matter of the assets?"

This secret was not easily known to outsiders, but Yami was easily able to guess it.

"The Uchiha Family's business is not top secret, how can it evade people who wish to know?" Yami laughed coldly and thought of a memory from his previous life.

The Uchiha Family head was a legendary figure who started from scratch. He made his fortune through the merchant caravans and revived the Uchiha Family's village. He gradually got old, and when he could feel that his time was up, he got his children to form a caravan in twos and according to their results, split the assets. The better they did, the more family assets they get.

But his eldest son Uchiha Itachi and second son Uchiha Obito were extremely talented. After competing for six to seven years, they still could not come to a conclusion, and even after the family head died, there was no clear victor.

After the Uchiha Family head died, there was an enormous amount of assets. While competing for the assets, the two brothers' conflict escalated and both called in external help, causing a large scale Gu competition. Finally, the both of them died. The Uchiha Family that had prospered quickly also failed quickly, causing people to talk about it in amazement.

Uchiha Sasuke squinted his eyes, for Yami's explanation was irrefutable. He thought, from the time his father declared the asset distribution, it had already been two years. There are no impenetrable walls in the world, so even if someone found out about it, it's nothing strange.

His real worry was whether this was another trap by Uchiha Itachi. But no matter what, there was no harm listening.

Yami did not speak immediately. He surveyed the surroundings. This was the same wine cellar he came into in the afternoon. The shopkeeper operated independently, and at night, the shop was bustling with business.

Discussing here was a far safer place than a quiet environment, as it could avoid the eavesdropping of certain Gu worms.

He hooked his fingers at Uchiha Sasuke. "Lend me your ear."

Uchiha Sasuke unhappily snorted, but still slanted his head forward.

After hearing Yami's description, he frowned and looked at Yami coldly. "This business involves the three families on Elemental Mountain, and we merchants detest getting involved in other people's disputes. Hmph, you were sent here by Uchiha Itachi to harm me right?"

Yami had long expected for him to be suspicious. He did not bother to explain, but got up and left. "Hehe, in that case, I'll go talk to your brother."

Uchiha Sasuke squinted his eyes, staring at Yami. Only until Yami had left the wine shop did he lose his patience. He chased out of the tent and caught up to Yami, "Don't go, we can have a talk."

Yami placed both hands behind his back, staring at him from the side, coldly saying, "I know you are suspicious of me, but now that your brother has you firmly caught, you're almost close to finished. If you choose to believe in me, there's still hope, if not you're doomed. Are you daring enough to take this bet?"

Uchiha Sasuke's expression changed as he corrected and said, "Uchiha Itachi is but only a little older, I have never acknowledged him as my brother! But you're right, I'm taking this bet."

Yami said solemnly, "Two thousand primeval stones, no haggling."

Uchiha Sasuke laughed bitterly, "Too expensive, this trade involves high risk."

"The greater the risk, the greater the rewards." Yami shook his head, his attitude firm, "If you sell it to those two families, you will only earn much more."

Uchiha Sasuke nodded, showing a hint of seriousness, "This I believe, for these years the Kiri family has been growing fast, and an A grade talent called Haku has appeared recently, he has a great future ahead. Elemental Mountain's situation is gradually changing. Your Konoha family's dominance is wavering, and if I sell this to the Kiri family, I can at least earn twice as much!"

Hearing Uchiha Sasuke's understanding of the Elemental Mountain's situation, Yami could not help but evaluate him again, thinking: 'This Uchiha Sasuke, he is still a merchant family member after all, not those useless second generations."

Uchiha Sasuke sighed, "Regardless of whether this is a trap, I'm jumping in. I promise you, two thousand primeval stones it is! However, I want to see the merchandise first."

"Of course, come with me." Yami laughed as he led the way. Uchiha Sasuke was already trapped in the urn, and the situation was fully in Yami's grasp.

Following his memories, Yami brought Uchiha Sasuke to the cavern in the mountain.

The two entered the crack in the stone, and the path became more narrow as their vision was dyed in darkness. Uchiha Sasuke grew more vigilant as he was in an unfamiliar environment.

Finally, he could not hold it in any further, "I have a question, Uchiha Itachi always treats people with honesty and is amicable with a good reputation. On the other hand, I lied and cheated, forcing transactions through coercion. Why did you choose to deal with me and not him?"

Yami's voice travelled through the stone crack. "Because his cultivation is too high, so if he sees the image wall, he can choose to deal with me, or abandon the deal and just give the image wall to the Konoha Clan head. I do not like giving the decision-making to others, furthermore I do not believe in integrity. The so-called prestigious reputation is just because the profits are small and are unable to incur his greed."

More importantly, it was because Uchiha Sasuke's position was special, for his cultivation was weak and he was easy to manipulate. Yami was naturally not going to mention this, of course.

"Hehe." Uchiha Sasuke laughed dryly, his suspicions mostly gone immediately. "That last sentence really resonated within me."

The two finally got into the secret cave.

Uchiha Sasuke saw the image wall at once, and could not help but laugh loudly, "Haha, I guessed right, you didn't lie to me!"

Yami stood behind him, laughing lightly, not saying anything.

Uchiha Sasuke looked at the wall, seeing the changing images and the animosity between the Flower Wine Monk and the 4th generation clan leader.

He looked at it once and retracted his gaze, looking at Yami, mocking, "Your 4th generation ancestor doesn't look that strong huh."

Yami replied, "This is nothing. The Konoha Clan needed a hero, thus the 4th generation became a hero. Not long after, the Kiri family needs a despicable scum, so the 4th generation will become a degenerate. Hero, scum, all these are just people's opinions."

"Well said!" Uchiha Sasuke laughed as he surveyed the cave.

His sight was set on the corpse of the Flower Wine Monk, and he stopped for a while before saying, "What a pity, a Rank five powerhouse. You've gotten much benefits from him huh?"

A Rank five Gu Master's inheritance was significant. Uchiha Sasuke's heart beat faster upon thinking of this, and he could not help but ask.

Yami shook his head. "It's been so long, most of the Gu are dead, I only got a Liquor worm."

Uchiha Sasuke did not believe him. "Don't lie to me brother, as long as this deal goes through, we are accomplices, I won't reveal any information. Tell me honestly, what did you gain from this?"

Yami laughed coldly and did not bother replying him.

Uchiha Sasuke's response was anticipated, and this was also why Yami chose him over Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Sasuke continued to say: "At the very least, I know the Flower Wine Monk has a Thousand Li Earthwolf spider. That is a Rank five steed-type Gu, with a large body and is proficient in burrowing underground. The Flower Wine Monk was a demonic cultivator, and his ability to get about freely was mostly due to this Thousand Li Earthwolf spider, allowing him to escape from the righteous cultivators."

"Oh, there's something like that?" Yami frowned. Regarding the Flower Wine Monk, he did not have much information.

Uchiha Sasuke smugly said, "I came to your village last year and heard this legend, and I found it interesting so I went home and researched about it. The Thousand Li Earthwolf spider and Flower Wine Monk were inseparable, and in my opinion, this cave should have been dug out by the spider. Otherwise, with the Elemental Mountain's rich and heavy soil, how can a cave like this form? Brother, you don't have to conceal it anymore. The Flower Wine Monk died here so there's definitely his Thousand Li Earthwolf spider here!"

Yami frowned even more deeply, feeling a sense of discomfort, his gaze grim, "Yes, there are no other exits here. The Thousand Li Earthwolf spider is massive, he would not have been able to squeeze out from the crack we just walked through. However, there is a possibility that the Thousand Li Earthwolf was plotted against and killed by the 4th generation. Seeing that image wall, even when the Flower Wine Monk was fighting he did not summon the Thousand Li Earthwolf spider."

"That makes the situation even more peculiar. This cave is not formed naturally, thus it has to be created by the Flower Wine Monk. Without the Thousand Li Earthwolf spider, could there be any other methods?" Uchiha Sasuke looked at Yami suspiciously.

Yami's frown swelled into a knot as he felt more and more uncertain. From Uchiha Sasuke's information, he found out something: it appears as if there was a crucial point that he had missed out.

He could not help but fall into deep thoughts.

Uchiha Sasuke was thinking too, the image wall was no longer enough for him. Once he confirmed that the situation was real, he wanted to dig out the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance from Yami.

But at this time, something unexpected to the two of them happened!

The image wall which was playing endlessly, suddenly changed its image.

A gravely injured, pale bald Gu Master replaced the original video and appeared on the wall.

He weakly sprawled on the ground, his back facing the wall. His chest and limbs were deeply cut, but the strange thing was that his wounds did not bleed, as if his entire body's blood had been drained out.

"I am the Flower Wine Monk." The bald Gu Master laughed, his expression distorted with madness, "Future person, no matter who you are, to endure this video and let it play for nearly one hundred days, it proves that you have no good will towards the Konoha family. Very well, you shall be my successor! My entire inheritance is yours, but I have a condition. You must exterminate the Konoha Clan for me. Murder the entire clan and leave no one alive!"

Uchiha Sasuke was stunned on the spot, his face frozen with shock.

"A Rank five powerhouse, the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance!"

He was stunned, and for a moment his brains were churning and thinking.

"My god! A Rank five powerhouse, what does that mean? Rank three is a family elder, Rank four is a village lord, and a Rank five is a mountain lord, able to rule over a mountain and do as he pleases! To think that in this tiny place, there is a Rank five Gu Master's power inheritance."

"Wait, Flower Wine Monk is a demonic cultivator, so if I inherit his powers, is it inappropriate? No, strength has nothing to do with good or evil. The Flower Wine Monk wants his successor to destroy the Konoha Clan, but do I really have to? He's already dead, I just have to take his inheritance and ignore those issues."

"This is a godsend opportunity. Even with my D grade talent, if I inherit the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, I might be able to improve my talent. Those rare talent-raising Gu worms, they might be part of the inheritance. If I inherit this fortune and become a Rank four or five Gu Master, I'd be able to contest with Uchiha Itachi!"

"Wait! I almost forgot, there's an outsider, what should I do?"

"Should I split the inheritance with him? No, kill him! Only by killing him can I protect this secret. Yes, I should calm him down first, and lie that we're going to split the treasure. Getting rid of his guard, then assaulting him and killing him here. This place is so hidden, it's great. Even if I kill him, nobody would know."

Although he thought of all these, it was merely a moment in real life.

Having a plan, he squinted and revealed a fake smile.

He slowly turned around and faced Yami but just as he was about to speak, he saw two blue moonblades flying towards him.

His pupils dilated into the size of a pin; the distance was too small, he could not respond in time!

"You…" His voice came to a halt.

The moonblade aimed accurately for his neck, and in an instant, his skull flew into the air, fresh blood pouring out like a fountain.

After two seconds, his corpse plopped on the ground.

The scalding blood poured on the mountain walls, dyeing the withering vines red.

"Don't think so much when killing people." Yami looked at the corpse plainly and then shifted his gaze towards the image wall.

"To think there was such a twist here. How interesting," He muttered as his eyes emitted an eerie glow.


	8. A True Hero Manipulates The Situation

**A True Hero Manipulates The Situation To His Benefit**

The rain crashed down heavily.

Grey clouds covered the sky, and the continuous mountains far away blended into a mass of black ink.

The rain curtain interwove the heavens and earth together.

Crack!

The sky flashed bright abruptly, and a bolt of lightning cut across the sky like a silver snake, then in an instant it was gone.

Summer was approaching, and the end of spring's heavy rain seemed to bring about a trace of the warmth of summer.

On Elemental Mountain, huge expanses of jade green spear bamboo stood tall and straight, resisting the winds and rain, the bodies of the bamboo straight like a spear as ever, the tips of the bamboo pointing towards the blue sky dome.

In the Konoha village, row upon row of innumerable tall-pillared houses endured against the great rain's washing. Outside the village, the caravan had already set out on their journey once again.

"The rain is heavy, take note of the pavement."

"Don't fall behind, Gu Masters better pull your Gu properly, especially the fat beetle, don't block the mountain road anymore!"

"You bunch of mortal martial fighters, better open your eyes wide and pay careful attention. Lose a single thing and you'll be paying for that!"

There was an endless stream of shouts rising and falling in succession from the merchant caravans.

After stopping over at the Konoha village for three days, it was time for this merchant caravan to leave the place and follow the mountain path through Elemental Mountain and head for their next destination.

The heavy rain cleansed the heaven and earth, and the roads surrounding the village were paved with cobblestone, this was still alright. However after around five hundred meters the roads would turn into a muddy and narrow mountain path.

The head of the proud ostrich chicken was drooping, its colourful rainbow feathers soaking wet under the rain, sticking into clumps, becoming the example of a drenched and bedraggled chicken.

The fat beetle worm moved its fat huge body, walking extremely slow forward. The rainwater beat upon its black armor, forming streams of water flow, sliding down both sides of its body onto the earth.

The shaggy mountain spider was also drenched, and its green-black coloured fur were adhered together.

On the contrary, the toad Gu were happily calling out, carrying out the load and Gu Masters, hopping forward on the mountain. And the winged snake had already put away its wings, the thick snake's body cheerfully travelling on the muddy water.

To protect the goods and prevent them from getting drenched wet by the rainwater, the Gu Masters were showing their magical abilities at the moment.

On a few enormous fat beetles stood Gu Masters in the middle. Their two hands were raised high, each of them having a One-stretch Golden Light Worm floating in midair one inch away from their palms.

The green copper primeval essence was like stream evaporating as it concentrated into the One-stretch Golden Light Worm's bodies. The entire Gu flashed like a golden bean, acting as the heart, supporting a tremendous faint gold coloured bubble dome.

The hemisphere-shaped bubble dome had a rather huge scope. It was able to completely cover one fat beetle worm and still have some leftover space.

As the rain smashed upon the bubble dome, it would bounce away, just like hitting on an umbrella. However this sort of One-stretch Golden Light Worm continuously consumed primeval essence, and in the long run the Rank one Gu Masters would not be able to take it anymore.

As expected, after a while, a Gu Master shouted: "No more, my primeval essence is almost exhausted, who can take over?"

"I can!" Almost simultaneously, a Gu Master rushed forward and replaced his position.

A few Gu Masters pulling the carriages or riding the mountain spiders activated the Green Silk Gu in their bodies.

Under its influence, their hair started to grow furiously.

A normal person's hair had at least one hundred thousand strands. A hundred thousand strands of hair, each being five to six metres, intertwining and covering the Gu Master's body along with the steed, formed an impenetrable hair raincoat.

The Green Silk Gu was a Rank one Gu worm, often used for defense. It uses 30% of green copper primeval essence to activate, and was not a continuous expenditure type like the One-stretch Golden Light Worm.

This Green Silk Gu can be combined with the Rank one Black Boar Gu to become the Rank two Black Mane Gu.

The Black Mane Gu when activated would not only involve hair on the head, but also hair on all the pores. Within a few seconds, the Gu Master's body would gain a black mane protective armor.

The Black Mane Gu's advancement path was the Rank three famous Gu, Steel Mane Gu.

Other than the One-stretch Golden Light Worm and Green Silk Gu, many of the caravan Gu Masters also chose the Water Spider Gu. It can be seen that there was a thin layer of blue raincoat on their bodies.

On the raincoat's surface, the water circulated randomly. As the raindrops hit onto the raincoat, it would immediately become part of the raincoat.

Since the Gu Masters were continuously soaking under the rain, the raincoat on their bodies would grow thicker. Every now and then the Gu Masters would have to urge the Water Spider Gu and discharge away the excess water. At this moment the thick raincoats would be reduced to the original thin layer.

As for those mortal warriors, they were constantly on the move, watching over the goods on the muddy road. Most of them wore raincoats made of straw, but in their rush and confusion the straw raincoats had limited effect from avoiding the rain, so they were already drenched wet by the rainwater.

"This accursed weather!" The warriors cursed in their hearts.

In the rainy weather, the mountain trail becomes even harder to walk on.

Under this weather, martial artists might be strong physically but they are still mortals. Once their bodies are drenched by rain and coupled with intensive labour, they would easily catch a cold. Getting a serious illness was the lightest consequence, perhaps they might catch repercussions, and if they catch a certain tough disease, it might cause them to get gravely ill and abandoned on the trip itself.

If they encounter slippery roads on the mountain trails, or encounter wild beasts and Gu worms' attacks, they might lose their lives.

The caravan may be big, and have many Gu Masters. But every time they went on a journey, there would always be a great decrease in numbers. Mortal martial artists die the most, while Gu Masters also have injuries and casualties.

If the caravan was unlucky enough to encounter large-scale migrating beasts, they might even get wiped out completely.

Other than natural disasters, there were also human-caused problems. Among the villages, there might be those who do not welcome the caravan. Some villages like to rob the outsiders.

"We're leaving, see you next year!" Some of the Gu Masters sat on the Gu worms and turned their bodies to bid farewell.

At the entrance of the village, many people gathered as they sent the caravan off with their gazes.

"You must come again next year!" Reluctant to see them depart, the children shouted loudly.

The adults had more complicated expressions.

"The road ahead is unforeseen. In these hard times, for those who are able to come to the village next year, how many would still be familiar faces?"

"Be it at the merchant caravan or in the village, it is not easy to earn a living."

As the caravan left further and further, as the crowd dispersed.

The cheerful and lighthearted market atmosphere had also subsequently disappeared. The original spot that had erected tents and shops was left now with a huge mess. The grass turf had been walked upon continuously by the crowd, grassroots and mud soil trampled out. The rainwater hit on its surface, immediately forming mud and numerous little pot-holes that collected muddy water. In addition to that, there was a lot of garbage left over.

Yami stood on a secluded hillside, watching the merchant caravan from far away alone. The merchant caravan was like a fat and colourful flower python, snaking through the narrow mountain road under the grey heavy rain, slowly entering the dense mountain forest.

"Ah, the heavens are sending their blessings..." Yami sighed lightly.

He held a butter yellow paper umbrella, quietly standing in the rain.

Yami wore the most plain flax cloth garment, his body slim, his skin bringing about the pale whiteness of a fifteen year old teenager, a settled clump of clean and short black hair atop his head. The ends of his hair trembled slightly in the wind under his umbrella.

While others curse the weather, he was lamenting the timely appearance of the rain.

He killed Uchiha Sasuke last night and cleaned up the scene, but because it happened so unexpectedly, there was bound to be areas of neglect. Especially with the bloody smell, because the cave is not ventilated, the smell could not disperse easily.

With this rain, it cleaned up the air and environment, greatly reducing the chances of getting exposed by smell tracking methods. The crack was bound to have a small cascade of water flowing down, and once the fresh water vapour diluted the air, he would not be exposed for the short time being.

Of course, once time passes, the chance of getting exposed increases.

In this world there were all sorts of Gu worms, and investigative methods were abundant, even Yami only knew a portion of them.

The rain produced pitter patter sounds as it hit on the yellow umbrella. Then following the shape of the umbrella, streams of water flowed down onto the limestones beneath Yami's feet, hitting and creating splashes.

Seeing the caravan curve into a corner, completely disappearing into the forests, Yami did not show a sign of relief, but instead looked grim.

"Although Uchiha Sasuke's cultivation was weak and had little talent, he had a special status. The caravan's people are all busy with business, thus no one found out that he's missing. But once some time passes, it'd definitely be found out. By then, Uchiha Itachi would return to investigate, and the real challenge would be then."

"The Uchiha Family head intentionally arranged Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi to be on the same caravan, he had deep intentions. In terms of cultivation, they are worlds apart. In terms of cunningness, they're also incomparable. Such an arrangement is to inflict a blow to Uchiha Sasuke and let him be clear of reality, and live life peacefully. At the same time he is testing Uchiha Itachi's nature, for if he is too overbearing on Uchiha Sasuke, how can he hand the position of clan head to him?"

"Uchiha Sasuke never truly understood his father's intentions. Although he had some intelligence, he only managed to scratch the surface of a merchant's wits, what a pity. A pity of such a good pawn piece."

Yami felt regrettable in his heart. With five hundred years of experience, he could easily see past the surface and understand the true nature of the situation.

When he saw the dispute between the two that night, he could tell the complicated relationship between Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi, and thus he had a vague plan formed in his heart from then on.

In his plan, Uchiha Sasuke was a very suitable pawn. His cultivation was weak but he held a high position in the caravan, and although he had some wits, he had little experience, thus Yami could easily manipulate him.

Once controlled, this pawn would be extremely useful.

For one, he could build a strong network of smuggling through his relationship, preparing up for usurping treasures from future killings.

Secondly, Yami could hide in the background and use the image wall to stir up conflict among the Elemental mountain's three families, causing a civil war and enabling him to be able to reap the rewards.

Thirdly, Yami could rely on him to make his way into the Uchiha Family interior. The future Uchiha Family dispute caused a large scale Gu fighting competition, it will be a huge affair with lots of benefits to gain. Yami could make use of this to acquire the greatest reward for himself.

"My cultivation is still too low, restraining me greatly in doing things. If there was a pawn for me to use, I can do some things that I cannot attempt myself, it is not only convenient but also lowers the risk of doing so. If I get exposed, I can simply discard the pawn and stay safe myself."

"The surrounding people know the situation well and are loyal to the family, thus they aren't good to manipulate. Only an outsider like Uchiha Sasuke can be used more efficiently to execute my plans. Unfortunately, I did not expect the Flower Wine Monk to leave behind his power inheritance."

The Flower Wine Monk is a Rank five Gu Master, his inheritance is definitely more valuable than this pawn.

Of course, it'd be good if he could get the best of both worlds, but in face of such treasure, Uchiha Sasuke could not longer be controlled, thus he had to be discarded.

"Nothing will go smoothly forever in this world." Yami sighed and shook his head.

The Flower Wine Monk's inheritance appeared and disrupted Yami's original plans. In addition, after the changes to the image wall, the videos and images were all gone, only showing a line written in blood, telling Yami to destroy the image wall and reveal a cavern entrance. Following the trail, he would be able to get the inheritance.

The blood writing only appeared for a few breaths before vanishing, and the image wall also turned back into the most ordinary mountain wall.

Yami spent the entire night cleaning up the murder scene, and had no time to break the wall.

"Killing Uchiha Sasuke in a hurry, this would leave many problems for me in the future, and I am but only temporarily safe. Although I succeeded in getting rid of the evidence, there is bound to be trouble coming for me in the future. In this case, I would have to change my way of exposing the Liquor worm. I cannot go to the secret cave behind the wall crack either. I have to stay in the mountain village for some time to anticipate investigation in the near future."

Yami turned around and held his umbrella, walking in the rain towards the village.

"But this is fine too. I can spend a large amount of primeval stones during this period to refine to middle stage primeval essence. Using it, I can nurture my aperture and break through into the middle stage. Once I reached the middle stage, my power will double, allowing me to get the inheritance more easily and with greater confidence."

A demonic cultivator's inheritance was not as mild and gentle as a righteous cultivator's, for there was often dangerous tests and tasks, and if one cannot get through, they'd have to pay the price with their life.

"The world is hard to predict, but it is precisely this that makes it interesting." Yami smiled coldly.

The green mountain beneath the heavy rain extended continuously and unending, its green mixed with grey, appearing stifling and heavy.

A gust of wind blew, and the raindrops inclined a little, hitting onto Yami's shoulder and attacking him with a burst of chilliness.

He thought about Uchiha Sasuke again.

Sighing in his heart, he thought, "Uchiha Sasuke, actually I… did not want to kill you."

What a waste of a good pawn.

It rained for four days before stopping.

The sun rose high into the sky, tearing away the rain curtain, seemingly like it was unveiling summer itself.

The breath of summer had faintly started to come around.

The weather became increasingly sunny and cloudless, sweeping away the sentimental breath of spring, and the temperatures slowly rose.

In the night of spring, the lively Dragonpill crickets had retreated, cowering away into the deep ground to lay eggs. The green spear bamboo specially found on Elemental Mountain had started to grow wildly, and nearly everyday it would show an obvious increase in height.

The grass and the trees began to change from emerald green into a dark green colour. The neverending green mountains started to look even more verdant and lush.

The weather was clear for thousands of miles, blue like a crystal.

Bang, bang, bang.

At the training grounds in the academy, sounds of punches and kicks could be heard.

After exchanging over ten blows, Kiba was kicked in the abdomen by Yami, taking five to six steps backwards, leaving the designated circle drawn in the arena.

The martial arts instructor stood before the stage and evaluated the situation. Seeing this, he immediately declared, "Kiba has exited the stage, Uzumaki Yami wins for the 33rd consecutive time!"

"Hmph, I lost to you again." Kiba gritted his teeth, his eyes staring right at Yami, "But don't be arrogant. One day, I will defeat you. I can already feel it, that day is nearing!"

Yami looked at him expressionlessly, and then his eyelids drooped downwards. "That kick earlier caused you to have internal bleeding. I'd advise you to treat that injury first."

"This small injury is nothing!" Kiba was retorting halfway, when suddenly his expression changed and his throat gulped, vomiting a mouthful of blood.

His face was pale, this was the first time he suffered this level of injury! His eyes could not help but show signs of fear.

The martial arts instructor hurried over and pacified him. "Don't worry about this level of injury, you just need to rest for a few days. Just stop practising your punches and do not do vigorous exercises during this period."

The moment he finished saying so, two healing Gu Masters who were waiting outside rushed over and meticulously helped Kiba out.

Kiba did not dare to say anything else, but he looked at Yami deeply in his eyes, filled with anger, hatred, regret and indignance.

"Kiba has good martial techniques, but he couldn't beat Yami."

"Yami is too good, basically no one can beat him!"

"Kiba actually vomited blood, how scary. I don't want to fight a guy like this."

"Sigh, but the instructor said today is practice combat, up on the arena! Each of us needs to go up and fight once."

The students stood outside the arena, some looking towards Yami in fear, some sighing non-stop, some were pale while others felt trepidation.

Among them, some were injured. A few held their bruised faces, some held their limbs, gasping for breath. Others laid on the ground, rubbing their thigh.

"Next!" Seeing that there were no challengers coming up, the instructor yelled.

However, no one answered. Usually those who were courageous to challenge Yami were only Kiba, Shino Aburame and Uzumaki Naruto. But these three were already beaten.

Silence swept across the students as others even retracted their steps slightly. The instructor frowned on seeing their fearful expression.

He could not help but think of the academy elder's words: "These days, Yami has gotten too dominant, we have to suppress him. The other students cannot even raise their heads under his pressure, and if this goes on, the courage in their hearts will be simmered. Our academy nurtures courageous tigers and wolves to fight enemies, not fearful sheeps and lambs."

"What's wrong with all of you? No matter how strong he is, Yami is only fifteen years old, he's one of your peers! He has the same age as you, eats the same food as you and drinks the same water. He does not have three heads or six arms, he's not a monster! Pluck up your courage and show me the pride of the Konoha Clan within you!" The instructor yelled, trying his best to motivate the students.

"But he is too strong, we cannot beat him."

"The classmates who fought him are in such a pitiful state. Kiba got beaten until he vomited blood."

"Yami is getting more ruthless with his strikes, instructor, we do not dare to fight him."

The students spoke softly, weakly retorting.

The instructor was stomping with anger. These ignorant youngsters!

He was clear as a bystander. Yami had gone through thirty-three consecutive fights without any rest in the middle. Although he was constantly adjusting his breathing, his stamina had already depleted.

Yami's attacks getting merciless proves this fact even further: He could no longer take it easy like before, he is losing control of his strength and the situation.

If someone tries harder, his fatigue will be revealed. With just a few more people, he could be defeated on the stage!

Once Yami is beaten, his dominating presence will be reduced sharply, the students courage ignited and the motive to suppress Yami achieved.

But now, the students were deterred by Yami's tough front.

At times, what defeats a person is not a strong enemy but one's own heart.

The instructor was anxious in his thoughts, and continued to motivate them.

But he was not good with his words. In the beginning he said these same words to ignite the hot-bloodedness in the youngsters and stirred up some challengers. But now that he had said this so many times, the youngsters are all numb already.

Yami folded his arms and stared at this coldly. Although he was standing in the center of the stage, he was acting like a complete bystander.

The instructor encouraged for ages but the students were still looking at each others, not one had moved.

The martial instructor could not help but be angry and helpless. He turned to Yami, unhappily chiding, "Yami, you're also at fault. Your blows are getting more vicious among classmates, you should be more gentle and friendly, how can you deal such vicious blows? Be careful from now on and attack carefully. If you cause another classmate to vomit blood, I will declare your loss and evict you from the stage!"

"Instructor, you are wrong."

Yami snorted, his gaze not showing any weakness, looking right at the instructor, "Practising and fighting, we naturally have to give it our all, otherwise how can it achieve the aim of training? Don't tell me that when we are in battle, we also have to request our enemies to be more gentle and friendly?"

The instructor flew into a rage, "Hmph, your attacks are vicious, you are harming your classmates and you dare to use twisted logic!"

"Instructor, you're wrong again."

Yami laughed coldly, "You arranged this practice match and raised the winning prize to twenty primeval stones. Without your encouragement, would these people have gotten hurt?"

"Bastard!" The martial arts instructor was not good with words, and he pointed at Yami and scowled, "Do you still want the prize or not? If you argue any further, even if you get first place, I will declare you a loser! You are so uncooperative and antisocial, and you dare to argue with your teachers, you have no rights to claim the twenty primeval stones as reward!"

Yami laughed heartily. "It is but a competition that merely gives twenty primeval stones, do you think I give a damn?"

Saying so, he turned around and left. Under the class' distraught gaze, he walked out of the center of arena.

Although he did not manage to sell the image wall, Yami still had several hundreds of primeval stones in his possession. Furthermore, his aim this time was not primeval stones.

"You!" Seeing Yami really walking down the stage, the instructor was stunned without words, showing an expression of shock and confusion.

A fifteen year old teenager, shouldn't he be competitive and full of vigor?

Yami having such fighting talents, shouldn't his character be even more so? How could he just back out of the competition like this?

Furthermore, Yami has no background, he should be tight on primeval stones. Why was the twenty primeval stones unable to attract him?

At this point, the martial arts instructor stood on the spot, unsure of what to do.

Yami did not step into the trap, but left the stage immediately.

The instructor suddenly realized: There was nothing he could do to Yami. With his status, he could not find problems with Yami directly, and force him onto the stage right?

The surrounding students retreated, maintaining a distance away from Yami. Yami stood on the grounds, with no one around him. With him as the center, the radius of five steps around him became a vacuum.

What a pity.

If they were beside Yami, they would hear Yami's panting sound.

"My stamina is depleted," Yami sighed. Although he showed an energetic outward appearance, under his clothes, his body was slightly shivering.

After all, he was only fifteen years old and had no relevant Gu worm as support. After thirty-three matches, he was close to his limits.

Although he had his rich fighting experience from his past life, during this time, the other youngsters' combat abilities had improved significantly. From them, Yami could already feel a strengthening sense of pressure.

This kind of pressure reflected in Yami's attacks. His attacks got tougher as he gradually lost control of his strength. Compared to the past, when they were still too weak and he could defeat them easily, the youngsters would only end up in minor injuries. But now, his control over the arena was getting weaker, thus he had to strike harder to maintain his image.

"Experience is, after all, not omnipotent. Any thoughts or technique require a body with sufficient foundation before the value can be apparent." Yami narrowed his eyes. In actuality he had long seen through the martial instructor's thoughts.

Yami was not surprised, as if he had expected this from the start, the academy elder's pressure on him.

After he killed Akamaru, the people who dared to challenge him diminished. When he extorted them, even more people oppressed by Yami's dominance did not dare resist, and they obediently handed over their primeval stones.

After a long period, Yami's unbeatable image would be formed. This would leave some psychological trauma in the youngsters and make them unconfident in their martial arts techniques. This was what the academy elder did not want to see. He needed Yami to motivate and force the students to improve, not to completely extinguish their passion for battle.

He wanted to see Yami's defeat.

Once Yami was defeated, the image of invincibility that he had erected would be instantly destroyed.

At the same time, it would awaken the students' fighting spirit. After some setbacks, it would mould their wills to be indomitable.

But to Yami, he needed this form of pressure so that he could extort primeval stones with greater ease.

If he was defeated, the youngsters would realize his weakness and attack together at once. Although Yami had ample of primeval stones in his hands, extortion was his main source of income. Without this source, he would be digging into his reserves.

Thus, Yami's appearance in the arena and thirty-three consecutive victories was merely to maintain his deterrence towards the students, and not for the twenty primeval stones reward.

If he avoided combat from the start, it would show his weakness, and if it raged on, he would expose his weakness.

"What are you all waiting for, why is nobody getting up on the stage, go on! The first prize is twenty primeval stones, you all don't want it anymore?" The instructor yelled after snapping out of his thoughts.

The rest of the students began to get motivated.

Yami had already left the stage, and to them, it was a huge rock off their minds.

"I'll go!"

"I'll come!"

Two youngsters squeezed their way up the stage and began to spar.

"Sigh, if I had known this, I would have waited and not rushed up the stage. Then I would not have been throw off the stage by Yami."

"What a pity, to think Yami left."

"He's really daring, see even the instructor is at a lost for what to do with him."

Hearing their whispers, the instructor felt his reputation crumbling. He was extremely agitated in his heart and wanted to punish Yami thoroughly. However, Yami had done nothing wrong, and leaving the stage on his own accord was allowed.

The instructor was both helpless and moody. Finally he looked at Yami and stared angrily at the latter.

Yami's lips slightly curled up into an angle as he thought, "Such boorish methods, this instructor is a little cute."

A pair of solemn eyes were staring at the faraway training grounds.

The academy elder stood at the window of the third storey, looking at everything that had transpired at the arena.

He frowned deeply.

The instant Yami left the stage, he felt a sense of peculiarity in his heart, not expecting Yami to do this.

"This lad, he is rather hard to catch. He is proficient in the academy's rules, and normally will not commit any wrongdoings. Although he sleeps in class, once he is asked a question he can answer properly, leaving others with no flaws to pick on. Trying to get ahold of a weakness of his to suppress his dominance is going to be difficult."

The academy elder could not help but develop a faint sense of loathing towards Yami.

As a teacher, he naturally liked obedient and smart students, and hated those naughty students who did not obey the rules.

But being the academy elder for so many years, his experience was extremely rich, he had seen many different types of students. Among them he had seen extremely obedient ones who followed orders without question. There were also those who caused problems day and night, constantly breaking the rules.

His heart had already become still as water, impartial to all. At the same time, he carved the phrase "as a teacher, one must treat all students fairly" onto the right corner of his desk, treating it as his motto.

He had never felt such disgust for a student.

Feeling that sense of detest in his heart, the academy elder was also slightly shocked.

In previous years, even towards the most naughty students, he was able to handle it with a big heart, tolerating their actions. But when it came to Yami, why did he lose this sense of impartialness?

He thought about it again and again, and finally realized the reason.

This lad called Yami, he had a form of arrogance in his blood!

It seemed from the fundamentals that Yami did not respect his teachers for their status. Towards the martial arts instructor earlier, he not only disobeyed him, but even rebuked him in public.

Actually, such cases of retorting against teachers were commonly seen in previous years. However, those kids always had an agitated state of mind. They were either rebellious, furious or stubborn, etc.

The academy elder was clear that the more agitated the youngsters were, the more it implied that they were fearful in their hearts.

But Yami was not.

He had no fear in his heart at all, as if he had seen through the tricks of the academy.

His expression was aloof, and even after he left the stage, his expression showed no signs of changing, as if he had done something insignificant.

Yes, he treated the matter of disobeying his teachers as a trivial matter that was insignificant!

In simple terms -

He was not afraid.

It was just this point that caused the academy elder to already feel unhappy, developing a sense of disgust for him.

The academy elder could endure a student more rebellious than Yami, or a teenager ten times naughtier than him. That was because these students knew fear and were moving based on their agitated emotions.

As long as they were fearful, as long as they were impulsive, they would be easily manipulated and will not go out of control.

But Yami was not.

He was calm and uncaring, not treating his teachers with reverence.

He was not respectful!

Someone who has no reverence for the clan, even if they are nurtured, how can they be useful for the clan?

"Once they appear, this sort of person, they have to be suppressed, they must be suppressed! Otherwise, his existence will create a sense of irresistibility in the students. In the long run, it will affect the others, causing them to lose their reverence for their teachers, and as the academy, how else are we going to manage the students?"

The academy elder squinted his eyes, making up the decision in his mind.

But then, his face showed a troubled expression very quickly.

How was he going to suppress Yami?

Yami had done nothing wrong, there was no weakness that he could exploit.

Yami's cunning demeanour gave him a sense of helplessness. He had never met a student like this, one who was so familiar with the academy's rules and regulations.

As the academy elder, he was always impartial to all students. He could not be like a slum gangster and purposely find trouble with a youngster like Yami.

He had placed his hopes on the martial arts instructor, but now he was deeply disappointed.

"It seems that to suppress Yami's domination, we can only wait until all the other students advance to Rank one middle stage."

A Gu Master's advancement is mostly influenced by their talents.

With his rich experience as the academy elder, he had calculated before in his heart: the ones who had the greatest chance to advance first are Uzumaki Naruto, Shino and Kiba.

They were an A rank and two B grades respectively, and with their elders' help behind them, they had no lack of primeval stones. No matter which one of the three, they were mostly likely to be the first to advance to Rank one middle stage cultivation.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Shino and Kiba, these three are our hopeful seeds this season." The academy elder looked at the arena and sighed.

With his experienced gaze, he could tell: in the arena, although the students seem to be standing casually, they had subtly already split into three factions.

In one circle was Shino Aburame and a bunch of similarly-aged clansmen, all crowding around him.

The second circle's core was Uzumaki Naruto, and the clan leader's faction's younger generation were subtly supporting this A grade talent genius.

The third circle was led by Kiba. He had already been treated of his internal injury and stood on the arena with a pale face. The classmates beside him were asking him about his condition.

"This is the meaning of letting them compete with each other." Seeing the three factions, the academy elder was overjoyed and laughed.

Allowing the students free reign to compete, this was not just to nurture their battle senses, but also to prematurely choose the leader-type characters.

In past seasons, they had to wait until the end of the year to have the capacity to develop their own circles. But in this year, because of Yami's appearance, his extortion had brought forth the divergence much faster.

Against Yami, the only ones who dared to compete against him were Naruto, Kiba and Shino.

After a long time under imperceptible influence, the other youngsters would automatically regard these three as the leaders.

As long as there were no mishaps, these three social circles would be the layout of the future family's higher-ups.

"But these factions are still not stable. Within them, there are still students moving around. Once the three take the lead and advance to the middle stage first, I will give them the positions of class chairman and vice chairman. With that differentiation, they would gain authority, and this will strengthen their social circles," the academy elder thought.

Of course, there was someone not within either factions.

Just one person, and that was Yami.

Getting close to stronger people is human nature. In fact, although Yami extorted the students and acted against the students, there were a number of youngsters who wanted to attach themselves to him.

However, they were rejected by Yami. To him, only those who were useful were pawns, and these youngsters had too little value.

This was also another reason the academy elder hated Yami. He was too antisocial, not willing to integrate into the team. To such people like him, the clan's control over them was not as much as the other youngsters.

The academy elder's gaze once again shot towards Yami in the arena.

Yami stood alone at one corner with his hands behind his back, his eyelids slightly closed, allowing the students to fight for their prize. Even with the heated competition, his expression did not change the slightest.

His surrounding was vacant, no youngster was willing to stand with him.

Very evidently, he also did not wish for these people to be near him.

Yami stood there alone, enshrouded in loneliness.

He floated outside the factions.

"But I don't have to be too worried. This Yami is still young and can be changed slowly." The academy elder's gaze shone and he thought deeply.

"Next up will be the establishment of the class chairman and vice chairman. A year later, we will split into groups, creating team leaders and assistant leaders. Every academic year also has all sorts of honor and rewards, like the Small Redflower Award, Blue Neckcloth Prize and Five Outstanding Student Prize. He wants to cultivate so he needs resources, thus he has to compete for these positions and prizes. As time passes, with interaction among the students, he is bound to have kinship, friendship and love as his restraints. I don't have to worry about him going beyond the clan's control."

These years, the academy elder had gradually understood something.

When a new clan member is born, they would be brainwashed by the clan.

First, they would be taught the clan's utmost value system. Next they would go into moral education and learn about the beauty and importance of kinship, friendship, love.

After that, they would be taught honor, and in the process of growing up, many resources such as prizes would be used to attract them. Using the family's assigned roles, they would choose and recruit the most loyal clansmen into their factions.

Do not look down on the small roles like chairman or vice chairman, for once they become one of these roles, they would be part of the clan's administration.

Under such a system with constant influence, on one hand it brings about the benefits of having authority and the sweetness of power, while on the other hand, it brings the problem of detaching from the system. A carrot in hand and a stick in the other, who can break away from this system?

Even the wildest of people or the most lonesome ones would gradually become a part of the family. One without loyalty would also be nurtured into one with loyalty. Without kinship, friendship or love, they would still be developed.

This is the power of the system.

This is the power of rules.

This is the clan's way of survival!

Nightfall arrived. The moon was like a silver plate, appearing among the clouds. The thinly spread stars decorated the surroundings.

Kiba stood in the courtyard, raising his head up, his eyes glistening under the reflection of the moon.

"Little brother, I heard you got injured today." Behind him, his sister Hana Inuzuka's voice resounded.

"Sister, you are worried that after being beaten till I vomited blood today, I would have long lasting trauma?" Kiba turned around and curled his lips.

Seeing her brother laughing, Hana's heart felt at ease. Although she had truly worried, she said instead, "No way, big sis here understands you best. Good brother, you have an indomitable will, the future head of our Inuzuka Family. How can you be frightened off by such a small injury?"

"Hehehe, I knew sister doted on me the most," Kiba scratched the back of his head as he laughed sheepishly.

"You know what, sister?" Under the glow of the moonlight, this fifteen year old teenager's eyes radiated brightly. "Although I failed this time, I heard Yami panting during the match. Back then he easily beaten me in two or three strikes with an calm and composed manner. But his gasping already revealed his weakness. He is definitely not as strong as everyone else thinks. One day, I will defeat him fair and square."

"Good, as expected of a good man from my Inuzuka bloodline!" Hana laughed, patting her brother's head, showing concern on her face, "However, you suffered internal injuries, so please don't practise your martial arts these few days."

"Don't touch my head sister, I am already old enough." Kiba shrugged his head, using an unhappy tone, "I understand what you are saying, I have a plan. These few days, I'm going to nurture my aperture walls. To completely breakthrough from initial stage to middle stage and obtain the position of class chairman, and suppress Yami's dominance. I'll let him know that, what truly matters to a Gu Master's cultivation is still talent!"

"I'm glad you can think this way. I was only a vice chairman last time. If you manage to become chairman, it will fulfill my regrets too."

"Don't worry sister. The position of chairman, I certainly must obtain it!"

At the same time, in the Aburame Family.

Inside the secret room, there was only one torch, attached to an opening in the limestone walls.

The flame burned on, illuminating this small room.

One of the two elders in power, Shibi Aburame, was sitting facing his grandson, Shino Aburame. The two sat on a praying mat with their shadows projected on the ground, wavering with the flickering of the flame.

Shibi Aburame stretched out his hand, using his palm to touch Shino's abdomen area.

Shino Aburame's face was full of anxiety, his mind entering his aperture, suppressing the ripples in his primeval sea with all his concentration.

In this world, there are no two identical tree leaves. Similarly to Gu Masters, there is no identical primeval essence as well.

Once primeval essence from an external source enters the aperture, it will result in the natural resistance of the original primeval essence in the aperture.

If Shino Aburame does not suppress it, and instead allows the his primeval essence to resist, it will result in a clash between the essences. Such intensive reaction can cause great damage to the aperture.

The aperture's primeval sea is the foundation and roots of a Gu Master's cultivation, and is of utmost importance.

Once the aperture is damaged, at the very least one's cultivation may lower, but if it is severe, their latent talent may be lowered as well. Once the aperture is completely shattered, the Gu Master would die immediately.

After a while, Shibi Aburame gradually stopped transmitting his primeval essence, slowly taking back his hand.

Shino Aburame took a deep breath of relief, his tense body relaxing. "Thank you Grandfather, for nurturing my aperture and transfusing primeval essence to me every three days. It has been hard on you!"

Shibi Aburame's forehead was full of sweat, and he sighed and said, "This is inevitable. Your talent is only C grade, so if we rely on your ability alone to rise to middle stage, it'll take a long time. The time will usually be twice of a B grade, and four times of an A grade. In such a situation, your talent will be exposed. Thus, even if this method is dangerous, we have to use it."

"Grandson understands grandfather's intentions."

"As long as you understand." The old man sighed, "This method also has another sequela. After your aperture has been nurtured by my silver primeval essence, although the silver primeval essence has a greater effect, it is still an external source of primeval essence to you. Henceforth, even if your aperture walls change from a light wall to a water wall, it would still be mixed with my energy. The more external energy there is, the more impure your aperture will be, and this will stifle your talent, limiting your development in the future."

Shino Aburame bit his lips, "Grandfather, for the future of the Aburame Family, I am willing to sacrifice my future prospects!"

Shibi Aburame was pleased, stroking his beard. "It is good that you have such thoughts. But the heavens always leave a glimmer of hope for you, for you are not hopeless yet. If we can find the Cleansing Water Gu, it will be able to cleanse your aperture walls and flush out all the external energies in your aperture sea, removing this sequela."

"In addition, I have also used my relationships to search for a Liquor worm for you. This worm is able to help a Rank one Gu Master refine their primeval essence and raise it by one small realm. In this way the primeval essence that is refined will be your body's own primeval essence and not an external one. Using this way to nurture your aperture leaves no repercussions and risks, it is a much better nurturing effect!"

Shibi Aburame was overjoyed. "Thank you grandfather!"

"However, the Liquor worm is hard to find. Among the Rank one Gu worms, the Liquor worm, boar Gu, and Bookworm etc, are all extremely rare Gu. Once they appear in the market they would be snatched up immediately. Of course, there are also some Gu in this world that are rumored to change a Gu Master's talent. But at this age, grandfather has never seen one, only hearing occasional rumors about them." The old man explained.

The night winds blew in gently from the windows and into the room.

Uzumaki Naruto sat on his bed with his eyes shut, holding a primeval stone in both hands.

The green copper primeval sea was raging without any winds, the waves crashing towards the white aperture walls.

He has A grade rank talent, and his primeval essence occupied 80% of the aperture. His natural rate of recovery was twice of Yami!

With such godblessed advantage, he is already close to Rank one middle stage.

Phew.

A while later, Uzumaki Naruto puffed out a breath of air and opened his eyes.

The moon was bright and stars sparse outside the window, the bluish green bamboo houses arranged in a line.

A scene of peace and harmony.

"Time always flies when cultivating. In the blink of an eye, it is already late into the night," Naruto muttered softly. He slowly opened his hands, and two piles of rock powder fell onto the floor in front of his bed.

After a primeval stone's essence had been fully retrieved, it would turn into a pile of powder.

Looking at the powder pile, Naruto frowned.

He took out his money bag; it was already close to empty.

Opening it, he saw three primeval stones left inside.

Naruto would retrieve three pieces every seven days from the academy as resources, but since Yami would snatch a piece from him, he only had two left every week.

Uncle and Aunt would also give him living expenses, but it was also three stones every seven days.

Just with these primeval stones, how is it enough?

Naruto was determined to surpass his brother Yami, thus he took the initiative to approach his uncle and aunt multiple times to beg for some primeval stones.

After many times, his aunt would look for him to have a heart-to-heart chat, telling him about how poor the family was, and how they had cash flow difficulties, having no spare money left. Since then, Naruto did not have the desire to continue asking.

"Father and mother are already doing all they can to support my cultivation. I cannot make things difficult for them and ask for more primeval stones. I only have three left. I can only be more thrifty. If I use one piece a day, I'll have enough for three days."

"I have a feeling that in three or four days, I will definitely advance to middle stage! The only thing is, what is big brother's progress now?" Thinking so, Naruto subconsciously looked towards to academy living quarters.

"I have A grade talent, while big brother only has C grade talent. His speed is definitely slower than me. Big brother is not my match this time! Big brother, I will let you know the true power of an A grade talent!"

Thinking of this, Naruto clenched his fists.

…...

Academy dormitory.

Yami's door was shut tight.

In the darkness, he was not asleep, but sitting on his bed.

A Gu Master's cultivation cannot replace sleep. Normally at this time, Yami would already have fallen asleep.

But in cultivating earlier today, he already felt that he was just one step away from middle stage.

"I might as well not sleep tonight, I'll rush straight for middle stage!" His eyes shone with determination.

Soon after, he shut his eyes and his mind went into the aperture.

44% of green copper primeval sea. Just a moment ago, they were all refined into pale green coloured middle stage primeval essence by the liquor worm.

"Rise." With a thought, the peaceful green copper primeval sea began to stir.

The commotion got larger and larger, until waves were formed.

Splash, splash, splash...

The tides raced against each other, rushing towards the surrounding aperture walls.

Like crashing on a reef, most of the primeval essence would break into emerald ripples and fuse back into the sea.

A small amount of primeval essence was expended, turning into a small hint of invisible energy, penetrating into the white coloured light aperture wall.

"Rise again," Yami thought as the emerald ripples became larger in scale. The waves earlier were like rabbits and dogs, but now they were like troops of horses, marching towards the aperture walls.

A horse-like dragon, the waves like the heavens!

The primeval essence was expended quickly, and the water level fell sharply.

Splash, splash, splash...

The waves struck relentlessly, finally resulting in a change. The white coloured wall shook suddenly, the originally mild white colour radiating an eye-piercing brilliance.

Seeing this scene, Yami was overjoyed as he knew that the crucial part had arrived, and he quickly activated all of his primeval essence to rush at the walls.

The white light grew brighter, the light rays distorted and tangling together, giving people a feeling of thickness. After more than ten breaths, white strips of light bands appeared on the light wall, and the strips collided with each other like water flowing nonstop. In the process of collision, they continued to combine and merge, forming a white flowing light.

Finally, the flowing light gathered into one piece and completely covered the light wall.

The white light dimmed, and the original white light wall of the aperture was gone, replaced by a layer of spherical shaped white water wall. The light wall's surface was smooth with no impurities. The water wall however, was thicker than the light wall, the ripples of light flowing and flickering on it.

The primeval sea regained its peace, the aperture still having 20% primeval essence left.

"I advanced to middle stage!" Yami laughed heartily, opening his eyes.

The bright sunlight creeped in through the openings in the curtains.

Unknowingly, the night had passed, and it was already morning.

"Yami didn't come to class today. Look guys, his seat is empty."

"He's so bold! Today's lesson is taught by the academy elder, yet he dared to not show up."

"This is bad, the elder's expression is ugly, it seems that Yami is in trouble. Hehehe."

In the academy, the youngsters discussed softly. A few glanced towards Yami's empty seat, as well as the academy elder's darkening expression. Ever since he started the extortion, Yami stood against everyone in the class. Seeing him in trouble, all the students were excited for what was to come.

The academy elder's expression was stiff as he explained the crux of nurturing the aperture while secretly staring at Yami's seat.

He laughed coldly in his heart, "Yami, oh Yami. I was still worried about not being able to catch your weak point yesterday, and here you give it to me today. You are after all a fifteen year old teenager, I have overestimated you."

His ugly expression was mostly fake. His motive was to use this opportunity to find trouble with Yami and punish him, eliminating his increasing dominance in class. Undeniably, as time passed, Yami's dominating presence was getting stronger, causing the other students to be barely catching their breaths.

A one-sided dominance was not what the academy elder wanted to see. He wanted to see the entire class shining.

"Men!" The academy elder raised a finger and knocked lightly on the table.

"Elder, your subjects are here." The two guards standing outside at the door entered.

The academy elder snorted in public, "This Yami is getting out of hand, being so lazy and skipping classes right under my nose. Go to the hostel and bring him here for me."

"Yes, elder." The guards went on their way. Seeing the guards disappear outside the door, the academy burst into discussion noises.

Numerous students joined in the conversation.

"Yami is in deep shit now," someone said with his eyes shining brightly.

"Hehe, we have a show to watch later." Another laughed in pleasure towards Yami's misery.

"Big brother, you are too arrogant. This is challenging the elder's authority. No matter what punishment it is, you had it coming." Uzumaki Naruto looked at the empty seat, sighing internally.

Bam, bam, bam!

The academy elder with a strict expression, slammed the desk thrice, "Silence, no talking in class!"

His aura at this moment was like a volcano about to erupt, causing fear in others.

Immediately, the academy fell into pin-drop silence. The students fearfully shut up, quickly getting into position. Except, although their expression was so, their thoughts were already deep into this matter.

The class continued, the youngsters not concentrating at all.

A few students by the window looked out constantly.

As time passed, after a while, footsteps could be heard at the door. Instantly the students' ears twitched, tens of eyes showing bright expressions.

"Arriving..." The academy elder heard the footsteps too and narrowed his eyes as a result.

He had already thought of how to deal with Yami. He'll punish him to stand outside for three hours.

Although the punishment was not heavy, it was enough for him to be humiliated.

Throughout lessons, students entering and leaving would see Yami standing there.

This way, it would ruin Yami's image of invincibility. When the students realize that Yami was nothing special, the impact he has on them would be greatly reduced. This would result in them gaining courage and stir their competitive spirit.

The great part was, since Yami's punishment came from the academy, this would improve the academy's reputation.

Only with reverence will they obey.

Thus, while the method is simple, it has deep intentions underneath.

The footsteps got closer, and finally someone stood outside the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

Knocking sounds could be heard.

"Hehe, I will open it!" The student near the door volunteered and enthusiastically went to open the door.

The academy quietened down, numerous eyes staring at the door.

Crack.

The door was easily opened by the student, exposing a gap.

Sunlight infiltrated from the gap. The student opening the door suddenly froze, shuddering suddenly.

"AHH!" He was stunned for a second before suddenly screaming, subconsciously taking a large step backwards. His body knocked onto the desk and he instantly lost his balance, falling with the table onto the ground.

The boy's face was pale, his expression horrified, limbs trembling and unable to exert strength. Lying on the floor, he frantically tried to get up, but fell back down again and again.

"What's wrong?!" In a moment everyone was astonished, all of them frowning deeply.

Numerous gazes curiously looked towards the door.

The door was slowly pushed opened by the person outside.

The academy elder stopped his lecture out of reflex.

What everyone saw first, was a hand on the door.

A teenager's left hand.

A left hand with dripping blood.

A bloody hand!

Seeing this bloody hand, many of the female students covered their mouths and screamed in terror.

The door slowly opened fully.

The brightness of the sunlight pricked everyone's eyes, causing them to squint. With the bright sunlight as his background, a dark shadow attached to a thin teenager appeared before everyone.

He didn't know why, but the academy elder felt a strong feeling of unease in his heart.

"It's Yami!" Someone screamed out loudly.

Everyone who had gotten used to the sunlight could clearly see who the person was.

What met their eyes was Yami, bathed in blood, standing outside the door as if he had gone through an intense battle.

His left hand slowly retracted, his right hand grabbing onto some hair, dragging along a person. The person's left arm was entirely detached from the base. He was lying there motionless, evidently unconscious. Blood on his left shoulder gushed out.

"It's one of the guards who went to look for Yami!" Someone recognised the person's identity.

"What exactly happened?" Someone was going berserk.

"He murdered again, this time he killed the guards!" Someone pointed at Yami, screaming in horror, getting louder and louder, as if it would purge the terror and fear in his heart.

At once, the academy was rowdy.

Many students forgot the rules at this time, and stood up from their seats. They looked towards Yami with fear, shock, and nervous expressions.

In their imaginations, Yami would be dragged here by the guards left and right.

But the truth was — Yami bathed in blood, his expression cool like a devil approaching. The two guards, one missing while the other lying motionless, blood oozing from his body quickly forming a puddle.

A thick scent of blood permeated the academy.

The academy elder was stunned, he did not anticipate such a scene!

After his shock, came intense rage.

The two guards were merely external martial artists. So what if they died? The academy elder did not really care.

But the crucial point was their identity. They were the academy's guards, representing the academy's prestige. Representing the academy elder's face.

This Yami was simply too bold. Not only did he kill Akamaru, now he even went and murdered the academy's guards!

No, this isn't just being bold. He was practically provoking, challenging the clan academy's prestige.

The academy elder flew into a rage, pointing at Yami, screaming, "Yami! What is this? You have to give me an explanation, a good reason to spare you. If not, with the crime of murdering the guards, you will be thrown in jail, awaiting the clan verdict!"

The students all shuddered.

Even the windows trembled, the entire academy reverbing with the academy elder's screams.

Only Yami was calm-looking, his eyes dyed a deep miasma, behaving like usual, unable to see any change in his emotions.

After looking around, Yami let go of his right arm, and with a plop, the guard's head fell into the puddle of blood, splashing onto Yami's pants.

He cupped his fists towards the academy elder, his calm voice echoing throughout the silent academy, "Academy Elder, I truly have something to report."

"Speak." The academy elder spoke with both arms behind his back, arching his head as he looked at Yami, his expression ice cold.

Laughing coldly in his heart, he thought, "Yami, you're making more and more mistakes, increasing the severity. I'll see how you're going to explain yourself!"

Inside the academy, everyone's attention was on Yami.

Their expressions showed shock, fear, mockery and callousness.

Yami paid no attention to these people. He looked at the academy elder with a stern expression, with his finger pointing towards the fainted guard.

"Reporting to elder, these two guards had impure motives, devious intentions! They broke into my room when I was at the crucial moment of breaking through into the middle stage. As everyone knows, a Gu Master cultivating cannot be interrupted. Especially so when one is trying to break through into higher realms. A moment of distraction would not only cause the breakthrough to fail, but their aperture would also get damaged. Thankfully my luck was good, because at the moment where they barged in, I had already stepped into the middle stage."

"However!" Before the masses had reacted, Yami continued, "These two did not admit their mistakes earlier. To my surprise, they boasted shamelessly about wanting to get rough with me, even scolding our clan's ancestors, lying that the act of disturbing my cultivation was the esteemed elder's decision. Your student did not believe so, and resisted furiously. These two had strong martial arts, and I had to fight for life before finally defeating these two people."

"But seeing as they were the academy guards, your student did not kill them immediately. I merely cut off one of his arms, and the leg of the other person. Although there was quite some blood loss, they are still alive. That is my report for this matter, please uphold justice for me, esteemed elder!" Having said so, he cupped his fists towards the academy elder.

His tone was urgent, saying a ton of information, and leaving no room for others to interrupt.

After he had finished, the surrounding people slowly started to react.

"What did Yami say earlier, I did not catch it."

"I think he said he advanced to the middle stage!"

"How is that possible, he is just a C grade trash, to think that he actually advanced to the middle stage first."

"He definitely lied, he is afraid of the academy's punishment, thus he lied!"

The students discussed loudly.

When compared to Yami's advancement to the middle stage, the two guards' lives no longer mattered.

They were not Konoha Clan members, who cares if they're dead or alive?

"You said you advanced to Rank one middle stage?" The academy elder's voice was ice cold, his expression unforgiving. "Yami, this is not a laughing matter. If you admit your wrongdoing now, I can still take into account that this is your first mistake and deal with you leniently. If you want to continue lying and attempting to cover up your mistakes, then I can tell you now, lies are easily seen through."

Yami did not explain himself further, he laughed lightly and said to the academy elder, "Please inspect, elder."

Even without his words, the academy elder had already moved forward.

He placed his hand on Yami's abdomen, placing a trace of his spirit into it. Immediately he saw the inside of Yami's aperture.

Within the aperture, there was no Gu.

The Spring Autumn Cicada had already hidden itself. A Rank six Gu is way superior than a Rank three academy elder, so if it wanted to hide, it would not be found easily.

As for the Liquor worm, Yami had placed it into the dormitory's wine reserves, and did not bring it along.

The academy elder with his eyes shut, could see a green copper primeval sea, calm as still water.

Drops of primeval essence inside were all emerald green colours of middle stage primeval essence.

Seeing the aperture walls, the white coloured aperture walls were glowing with reflected light as if they were all made of water. Gushes of water flow rapidly moved along the wall.

Water wall!

"He really advanced to the middle stage, how is this possible?!" The academy elder shouted in his heart, a sign of shock under his calm expression. But he tried to hide it to the best of his ability, his face still expressionless.

A moment later, after he had digested this fact, he drew back his hand, speaking in a solemn voice, "It is indeed middle stage."

The students had been holding their breaths, awaiting the results.

The academy elder's verdict caused a huge commotion in the academy.

The students were full of bewilderment and shock, each of their faces showing immense disbelief.

Yami was only a C grade, but yet he was the first to breakthrough into the middle stage, this was against common sense!

For a Gu Master's cultivation and breaking through realms, the most important aspect should be talent. How is this possible, a C grade was the first to advance? How would this make those A grade, B grades feel!

"This!" Uzumaki Naruto's face was pale. He was still confident last night, but now that reality sat in front of him, he was unable to accept such a fact and fell to the ground.

Kiba clenched his fists, and Shino Aburame hatefully gritted his teeth.

The academy elder could not be easily fooled, so how did Yami manage to do it?

At once, all the youngsters stared at Yami, having one question in their hearts — with that C grade talent, how did he advance?

The academy elder's heart was similarly full of doubt.

Under such great empuzzlement, he ignored the idea of suppressing Yami and asked directly, "Yami, I hope you can explain this, how did you manage to advance to middle stage."

Yami laughed silently, "Heaven rewards the hard-working, and as a result of student's persistent training, I managed to advance smoothly."

"Lies!"

"Tsk, if heaven rewarded the hard-working, I'd be first long ago!"

"Diligently studying and training? Some time ago, I still saw him strolling around the shop district."

The students were evidently not satisfied with such an answer.

"Is that so?" The academy elder replied neutrally, his gaze staring at Yami, emitting pressure.

Yami's expression was candid, making eye contact with the elder without fear.

His body was bathed in blood, his linen shirt messy, as if he had gone through an intense battle.

A pair of black abyss-like eyes, showing a kind of peacefulness, indifference, and even hiding a hint of amusement.

Seeing such a gaze, the academy elder's heart wavered.

"This Yami, he is not afraid, not fearful, not threatened, and not shocked, how can he be interrogated by me right here? With his C grade talent, being the first to advance to middle stage, there has to be a secret. But since he does not want to say it, as the academy elder, I cannot forcefully interrogate him. It seems I can only investigate this privately."

Thinking of this, the academy elder retracted his gaze and his cold expression became milder.

Yami however did not let the matter go, "Your student is frightened, esteemed elder. How are you going to deal with these two guards? They have lost a lot of blood, if they are not treated soon, they might die."

"Frightened? You?" The academy elder retorted in his mind. His brows frowned deeply.

At this point, as the person in charge of the academy, he had to step forward and settle this.

"But how should I resolve this?" The academy elder could not help but feel troubled.

He silently began to think.

Yami took all of the academy elder's change in expressions into consideration. He laughed internally; the academy elder must be really troubled now.

These two guards, they were merely outsiders, their lives cheap as grass. In normal times, no one would care if they died.

But now the situation was different, they were sent out by the academy elder. If they really died, the academy elder would lose his reputation!

Thus, the guards could not die, the academy elder is going to save them.

The part that truly troubles the academy elder is Yami's verdict.

In his original plan, Yami first played truant, and then killed the guards. This could be said to be defying his teachers, being arrogant and self-centered. According to the clan rules, he'd be thrown into the clan jail, reflecting upon his mistakes inside.

But when adding in the matter of Yami's advancement to middle stage, these wrongdoings became very different.

Yami played truant and killed the guards because he was cultivating. This was reasonable.

The crucial part was, he was successful in advancing to the middle stage, and became the first in this class. This allowed him to be on the side of reason.

Just what did Yami rely on to advance to middle stage, this secret would be discussed later.

Winners win all, losers lose all, the world only cares about result. No one would reprimand such an outstanding junior.

The academy elder could not execute any punishments on him.

What is the academy for? It is to nurture outstanding Gu Masters, and inject fresh blood into the clan.

Now that we have such an aspiring young man, you as the academy elder still wants to find trouble with him? That would be neglecting your role!

Just like a student who got good results, as a teacher he should be encouraging and praising him, instead of punishing and criticizing. A teacher who punishes and scolds a student for his good results is not one that would ever be recognised.

Perhaps the other elders would secretly cause problems for Yami because they fear Yami's future prospects, or because of grudges and past grievances. But him alone, the esteemed academy elder, cannot do such a thing!

Because he is in charge of the academy, he has to be impartial, at least on the surface.

These are the rules!

"Do I just let him go like this? It was not easy finding a weakness of his." The academy elder was indignant. He knew in his heart that all the youngsters in the academy were merely spectators of this matter.

They can only look at the matter as entertainment, but are unable to see the crucial point in this, they are unable to experience the excitement in this battle!

The truth is, this is the one time where he as the academy elder, was battling against Yami the student.

First he grabbed hold of the rules, and was bent on punishing Yami, removing his strong image in front of the other students.

Next, Yami retaliated! His actions may seem rash, but it hit the matter on the point, and with the excuse of advancing to the middle stage, he got back his argument.

As for those two unlucky guards, they were merely sacrificial pawns who were implicated by the two's battle of wits.

"This Yami, he is too cunning! If he had really killed the two guards, I can still retaliate against him with this reason. Although his talent is lackluster, with such a meticulous and experienced method, it is hard to believe that he is just a fifteen year old. The worst part is, I cannot retaliate. No wonder back in those days, the clan had rumors about his early awakened intelligence!" The academy elder suddenly realised, he had lost.

His loss was due to his status, he was the elder in charge of the academy.

This was both his strength and weakness.

One's strength is also one's weakness.

Yami had understood this logic long ago!

The academy elder was both helpless and frustrated.

He had asked Yami to explain, and in actuality Yami's explanation was full of loopholes and easily exposable.

These guards were chosen by the academy elder himself, they would not be so rash and retarded to scold the Konoha ancestors.

Yami's words were on purpose, it was blatant accusation, framing and laying a trap in front of the other party!

The academy elder was clear of this, but he knew that he could not pursue the matter.

This was a trap.

Once he looked into it, the truth would be revealed, and how would he handle this matter?

If he did not punish Yami, the two guards would be pitifully framed, and as the academy elder, if he does not handle things impartially, how can anyone trust him?

If he punished Yami, that would be suppressing and displaying jealousy of the talented! To suppress a junior of the clan for two servants who were not part of the clan, this matter would trigger the unhappiness of the clansmen.

Thus, the best way to resolve this was to pretend to not see anything, and treat these two guards as discarded pieces. Admitting that they had performed a huge mistake, as well as praising Yami.

This way, the clansmen would be satisfied, and the deceived guards, without additional information, would think of this as being impartial.

If he handled the matter like this, it would give the academy elder the largest benefit.

Logic told the academy elder that this is the way to handle it. But emotionally, he could not take it lying down.

This Yami was too devious!

The academy elder not only failed to suppress Yami, but he himself became the stepping stone for Yami, getting humiliated in public!

Yami did not show the slightest respect for him and dared to oppose him like this in public, causing this esteemed academy elder to suffer such humiliation and frustration.

The point was, in future if these two guards felt indignant and wanted to reveal the truth, as the academy elder, if he wanted to maintain his image and position, he would have to be the first to step up and suppress them.

But this was all caused by Yami!

What sort of feeling is this?

For example, it would be like Yami pooping on the academy elder's face, but the elder himself still has to praise him and at the same time, clean his butt for him. If anyone wanted to point out that there was poop on his face, he has to be the first to shut that person up.

This feeling of grievance, it was almost unbearable for the academy elder.

There was a growing urge in his heart to give Yami a few tight slaps!

But finally, the academy elder stretched out his arm and patted Yami's shoulder.

"Good lad." The academy elder's face was dim like stillwater, forcing the words out of his mouth.

"It is all thanks to the academy's nurturing," Yami replied plainly.

The academy elder's eye twitched.

Everything was going according to Yami's calculations.

Thereafter, the academy elder ordered the healing Gu Master to save the two guards.

The guards were saved, but they had suffered heavy injuries and were almost crippled, ending up getting fired from the academy by the elder.

Yami did not receive any punishments, on the contrary he received compliments thoroughly.

This result caused much fear in the other youngsters.

But this issue was far from over. As time flowed, the commotion spread to the rest of the clan.

Yami being the first to advance to the middle stage with his C grade talent became the after-meal gossip of the entire clan.

After meals and tea breaks, everyone was discussing this matter.

Subsequent to the initial peculiarity, everyone started to guess the secret behind Yami's quick advancement.

"Actually, with a C grade talent, surpassing A grade and B grade to advance first into middle stage is not something that strange."

"True, there are many methods in this world that can achieve such a thing."

"Take the Relic Gu for example. Once this Gu is used, the aperture walls would be enhanced and it will assist the cultivation to rise by a small realm, being the easiest method of breaking through."

...

At once, the crowd's discussion evolved into all sorts of possible answers and methods.

As for theories about Liquor worms and external sources of primeval essence, these ideas were also naturally brought up by by many people.

If Yami revealed the existence of the Liquor worm at the start, there would not have been such a commotion. But because he hid it, this resulted in the curiosity of many people being raised.

Although it appeared peaceful, Konoha village had an undercurrent brewing.

Numerous eyes were watching the academy elder, all waiting for his explanation.

As the academy elder, if he did not know how a student that he had taught himself had advanced, that would be negligence of his role.

Thus, the academy elder had to give an explanation.


	9. A True Hero Doesn't Submit To Authority

**A True Hero Doesn't Submit To Authority**

Days passed by.

The second youngster to breakthrough the initial stage and advance to middle stage appeared.

It was Kiba.

Soon after, with just a three hour difference, Uzumaki Naruto advanced too.

He was after all, dragged down by the lack of primeval stones. Of course, there was also the reason of him being traumatised by Yami.

The third was Shino Aburame.

Even if he had Shibi Aburame's infused primeval essence, the method's effectiveness was not very high and could only be performed once every three days, adding to the fact that it was very risky. But with his C grade talent, getting third position was already a success.

On the fifth day, the academy elder once again handed out subsidies.

"Uzumaki Yami." He stood at the front, calling out Yami's name first.

Yami stood up and walked towards him with a plain expression.

The youngsters' attention was on him as he moved, revealing all sorts of envy, jealousy, inspection, and hatred, not one was the same.

"Today, the elder is not only handing out resources, he is also appointing the chairman and vice chairman positions!"

"As expected, the first to be called up was Yami."

"He is the first to advance, the title of chairman belongs to him."

"It is hard to imagine that this would be the result. Before this, I thought it would be Naruto who would come first."

"He was the first to advance to middle stage, it is so peculiar, there has to be a huge secret, but he refuses to tell us!"

"Hehe, if it was me I wouldn't tell anyone either. Keep quiet and prosper."

As the students conversed, Yami arrived in front of the academy elder.

"Uzumaki Yami, you are the first Gu Master to reach Rank one middle stage in this class, so this is your reward." Saying so, he handed him a white and blue money bag.

Yami received the money bag and opened it in public, peeking inside.

"Be rest assured, there's a total of thirty primeval stones inside, the academy would not shortchange you." The academy elder smiled.

Frankly speaking, he would never have expected that the first youngster to advance to middle stage would be Yami.

However, Yami did not listen to the academy elder. He rarely trusted others, and only believed in himself. He checked carefully and found that it was indeed thirty primeval stones, not one less. He then placed the money bag into his bosom pocket.

The academy elder upon seeing this action, thought that his finances were tight, and could not help but smile even more brightly.

"I guessed so, he is after all a C grade talent. Rushing to the middle stage, his primeval stone expenditure had to be huge. He has no funding from anyone as well, thus he has to be tight on primeval stones. As long as he has a need for primeval stones, we'll not be afraid of him leaving the control of the clan. Once he enters the clan's system, he would not be able to keep that secret, so even if we can't investigate it, one day, he will tell us." Towards this, the academy elder was full of confidence.

The truth is, after that day, he had sent people to investigate Yami in secret. Almost everyday there would be progress in the search.

But evidently, those people had not found out that Yami has a few hundred primeval stones in his possession, and was actually rather rich.

The academy elder continued and said, "Yami, you are the first to step into Rank one middle stage, and according to the academy rules, you not only will receive thirty primeval stones as reward, but you will also gain priority in choosing your second Gu soon after. Right now, I shall appoint you as class chairman!"

"Yami was appointed as chairman after all!" Upon hearing this, a few students sighed.

"Damn it." Kiba gritted his teeth, feeling indignant.

"Hmph!" Shino Aburame crossed his limbs, staring at the scene coldly.

The one that was affected the most was Yami's brother, Uzumaki Naruto.

His face was pale, and his expression looked uncertain, a dark cloud looming over his head. "Ordinary students, upon seeing the chairman and vice chairmen, have to bow and pay respects. With my results, I will definitely be a vice chairman. But from now on when I see big brother, I'll have to pay my respects to him."

"Hold on."

But at this moment, Yami spoke.

He smiled faintly to the academy elder and said slowly, "Esteemed elder, your student here is not gifted and does not have high wisdom, hence being unable to properly take on the role of chairman. This role, should be given to talented people."

"What? You mean you do not want to be chairman? As the chairman, you'll get ten primeval stones every time. Are you sure you want to reject it?" The academy elder frowned deeply as he spoke. For the last tens of years of teaching, he had not seen anyone reject this position!

Actually he had already given much thought about this matter, and letting Yami be class chairman had its merits.

Once he was the chairman, he would be inside the clan system. Yami will have to carry out his duties at the same time while enjoying his treatment.

No matter what the chairman's role was, the least he had to do was to stop extorting his classmates.

This was definitely not something a class chairman can do.

This is like before, even though the academy elder was humiliated by Yami, he still had to praise him for his excellent cultivation results.

As someone bound by the system, he would not be able to do as he pleases when handling matters, and many times he'd be left with no choice.

Of course, this was not because the academy elder was displeased with Yami extorting so many primeval stones every time.

He was thinking for the entire board of students. Once Yami becomes chairman and stops extorting, this would allow the other teenagers to have a breather under Yami's pressure.

Next, with some push of a hand, it would result in a multiway competition among the families. As long as he can nurture the clan's hopeful seeds - Naruto, Kiba and Shino, what is the cost of sacrificing a small role of a chairman?

And yet, although he had a good plan, the truth was very different from what he expected.

Yami rejected it!

He actually rejected it!

Although this position is small, it is the first representation of honor among these hot-blooded youngsters.

Besides honor, as the chairman, they get ten primeval stones as resources each time!

This temptation, no youngster has ever resisted it before.

But Yami actually rejected.

Yami looked at the stunned elder, and asked him back, "Did the academy rules state that the first has to be chairman? The position of chairman, is it irrefusable?"

The academy elder replied with a cold expression, "Of course there are no such heartless rules."

Yami laughed, "Thank you elder for your understanding."

Saying so, he cupped his fists and walked back to his seat.

The students who saw this scene with their own eyes all flew into a commotion.

At once, the academy was lively!

"Yami actually rejected it? Are you kidding me?!"

"Is he sick in the head?"

"Not sure why he's acting crazy, but hehe, he's gonna regret this later."

...

"Yami gave up on being chairman, this means I am the chairman?!" Happiness came too quickly, and the second place Kiba could not react in time.

Shino showed a look of disbelief, he was unable to comprehend that someone actually gave up the spot of chairman, he has to be beyond stupid!

"Big brother…" Naruto stared with huge eyes as he looked at Yami disappointedly.

According to his results, Naruto was assured to be vice chairman.

But when Yami gave up the position, Naruto felt that this position no longer had any meaning.

The academy elder's face was dark this time, really really dark.

The last time when Yami skipped class, although he looked angry, it was just an act for the others to see.

But this time, he was in a bad mood, worse than before.

Yami gave up the position of chairman. This means he is rejecting the clan system. The elder had governed the academy for tens of years, but this was the first time he saw such a student, rejecting this huge temptation!

He wanted to invite Yami into the trap, but since he wouldn't enter, the academy elder was helpless.

...

The giving out of subsidies ended.

Kiba claimed the position of chairman with his result of being second. Naruto and Shino each became vice chairman.

The class chairman was given ten primeval stones. The vice chairmen got five.

A few students who were not from well-to-do families were so envious that they almost drooled when seeing the three students' primeval stones.

The wheel of red fire, the sun slowly sank down on the west side of the mountain range.

Its light was not eye-piercing, but it was a sort of bright and gentle ray.

The west sky was dyed a shade of blushful red, the sunset glow continuously spreading out. It was just like an imperial concubine who had just been rewarded, happily crowding around the emperor, wanting to sleep together with him.

Elemental Mountain was engulfed entirely in a sea of rose red colour. Each of the tall-pillared buildings and houses were also draped over with a layer of golden yarn.

The surrounding forest planted around the academy seemed like it was wiped with a faint stratum of oil. The wind blew slowly, and as the students walked out of the classroom with their bosoms carrying the primeval stones that were just passed out, they were in a relaxed and calm state of mind.

"I really don't know what Yami is thinking, to actually give up on the role of class chairman!"

"Heh heh heh, his brain is fried. I bet he thinks of killing people all day, let's not concern ourselves with this kind of crazy guy."

"Come to think of it, that day when he burst into the academy I was really freaked out. It was just so terrifying, I had a nightmare on the day itself after I went home."

The students were in groups of twos and threes as they walked.

"Good day class chairman."

"Mmm."

"Greetings class chairman."

"Mhmm."

Kiba swaggered around as he walked, and wherever he went the students would bow and greet him without exception.

His face was unable to stifle the expressions of excitement and infatuation.

This was the fascination of authority itself.

Even if it was just a tiny bit of difference in status, it could also make a person even more confident in his own self worth.

Right now as the dying sun looked as red as blood, Kiba watched it while his heart sang, "How is it that I have never realised before, this sunset's rosiness sure is adorable…"

"Hmph, going head over heels just because of becoming a chairman, as if it's so amazing." Shino Aburame purposely walked behind, since he just didn't want to greet Kiba at all.

"I really have no idea what Yami is thinking about, to think he actually let go of the position of chairman. However it's also a good thing, or else me as the third, how could I have been able to obtain the role of vice chairman?" Shino Aburame was confused in his heart, but he also felt happiness and relief.

"Good day vice chairman." At this moment a normal student walked past him and immediately bowed to greet him.

"Heh heh, good day to you too." Shino Aburame instantly nodded, his face full of smiles.

Once the student was gone, Shino naturally thought, "The taste of vice chairman is rather pleasant. I'm sure the feeling of being the class chairman is even better. If only I was not the vice chairman, but the chairman himself, how good that would be!"

The Shino who had just been rejoicing earlier was now already filled with insatiable greed, starting to amass expectations for the role of class chairman.

Under the system of the clan, each rank that was higher than the last was just like a carrot getting bigger than the previous one, deeply enticing him.

"Although I am only a C grade talent, but I believe that everything will get better and better." Shino Aburame was full of hope for his future.

However right now, the other vice chairman Uzumaki Naruto was feeling very much terrible in his heart, his face expression also quite unsightly.

"Big brother, you!" He looked wide-eyed with disbelief at the academy's gate entrance, where a lone figure stood.

"Old rules as usual, every person one piece of primeval stone." Yami stood while hugging his arms, his tone dull.

Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times, then after some moments of effort he finally said, "Big brother, but I am the vice chairman now!"

"That's true." Yami was expressionless as he nodded, giving Naruto an indifferent look, "The vice chairman receives an allowance of five pieces each time. So you should give up three pieces instead."

Naruto was flabbergasted, and for a moment he was unable to say a word.

A group of teenagers were crowding around Kiba as they walked over.

When they saw Yami blocking the school gate entrance, Kiba flew into a rage, his finger pointing towards Yami. "Yami! You sure have the guts to actually still dare hold us back?! Right now I am the chairman, and as a normal student when you see me, you should first bow and greet me!"

What answered him next was Yami's fist.

Kiba was caught unexpected. After being hit by the fist, he could not refrain from retreating a few big steps backwards, his face full of disbelief. "You hit me, you actually dared to hit me? I am but the chairman!"

What answered him again was still Yami's fists.

Bang, bang, bang.

After a few rounds of exchanging offensive and defensive blows, Kiba was knocked down to the floor by Yami, and he fell unconscious.

The surrounding youths were all wide-eyed as they watched, all of them unsure of how to react for a moment.

This was totally different from their imaginations!

The guards at the gate entrance had also been watching everything that happened under their eyelids. They could not help but whisper among themselves.

"Yami just knocked down the new class chairman, what do we do?"

"Salad dressing!"

"What do you mean?"

"It means just watch them, then call some other guys and tidy up the place."

"But…"

"Hey hey, you want to provoke a person like Yami? I hope you remember what happened to Izumo and Kotetsu!"

The questioning guard immediately quivered and stopped saying anymore.

The two guards at the huge gate entrance stood perfectly straight and upright. To let an incident happen right beside them, it was as if they were deaf and blind, unable to hear or see anything.

After Yami sorted out Kiba, he also dealt with Naruto and Shino.

It was then that the other teenagers realised that nothing had changed. Yami was still the same old Yami, and the extortion would still continue as always.

"Each of you hand over one piece of primeval stone, vice chairmen three pieces, class chairman eight pieces." Yami announced the new rules.

The youths could only sigh and obediently fish out their primeval stones.

When they walked out of the school gates, suddenly someone slapped his head and exclaimed loudly, "I've thought of it, no wonder Yami did not want the position of class chairman. He wanted to continue extorting us!"

"That's right. Everytime he does it he would get about fifty-nine piece of primeval stones, and right now it's gone up to about sixty-eight pieces. If he was the class chairman, he'd only get ten pieces." Quite a few of them were enlightened.

"He's too treacherous, too cunning, too savage!" Some of them were slapping their thighs, full of hatred and resentment.

"Sigh, this way it means that there's nothing extraordinary about the position of class and vice chairman. They'll also be extorted and be left with two pieces, just like the rest of us."

It was unknown who just spoke, but when the youngsters heard it, they all could not help but turn silent.

Bang!

The academy elder slapped the table fiercely, feeling extremely furious.

"This Yami is just too absurd, what is he trying to do? To go as far as to continue extorting, taking eight pieces from the class chairman and three pieces from the vice chairman. With this, what is the difference of being a class and vice chairman in comparison with the other normal students?!" The academy elder tried his best to suppress his voice, but his tone was filled with fury.

When Yami rejected the position of class chairman, it meant rejecting his own integration into the clan's system. In strict terms, this was a sort of betrayal towards the clan itself. This was enough to make the academy elder very angry.

Immediately after that Yami had gone to extort his fellow classmates. His handreach was getting further, and this had already gone beyond the academy elder's bottom line. After the extortion this time, the influence of class chairman and vice chairman would be completely weakened.

Over time, the normal students would lose their respect and interest for these two positions.

While Yami's actions this time seemed small, the meaning behind it was rather heavy.

It was pretty much using oneself's own strength to challenge the clan's system!

This was something the academy elder totally did not wish to see. He was raising the clan's fresh new hopes, not the clan's traitors. Yet despite knowing Yami had gone and challenge his baseline, he knew that he was unable to do anything to handle the matter.

If he really did, the first one who would not let him go would be the clan head. The second and third person to have opinions against him would be Shibi Aburame and Inuzuka Gaku.

The clan head put in all his hopes onto Uzumaki Naruto, for Naruto was the only A grade talent in three years. The clan leader needed a tenacious and independant genius, not a fragile and delicate flower who was cared for.

At the same time for Shibi Aburame and Gaku, they also had placed their hopes onto their own respective grandsons, hoping that their grandchildren would grow in the midst of setbacks and frustrations.

If the academy elder acted and replaced the students in punishing Yami, once word got out then there would be the sayings of "Inuzuka and Aburame Family's future successors could not beat Yami and could only let the elders help them out."

How unpleasant that would be.

This would inevitably be a huge blow towards the fame and honor of the Inuzuka and Aburame Family.

Of course the academy elder was not afraid of a small little Yami, but he was instead worried that his intervention would attract pressure from the three sides - the clan head, Inuzuka and Aburame bloodline. They pretty much made up of almost the entire Konoha high authorities. As a lowly elder, how could he possibly endure?

"The root of this matter still goes back to Yami's secret. What in the world did he rely on to break through to the middle stage?" The academy elder restrained the fire in his heart and shot his gaze at the three investigation reports on his table.

The first report showed extensive info about Yami's family background.

Yami was born into a good family; there was nothing strange about his identity and his life experience was perfectly clean and spotless. Both his parents had passed away and he was taken in by his uncle and aunt. However they did not get along, and ever since he attended the academy Yami had always stayed in the academy hostel.

The second report was about Yami's life records.

He had showed early intelligence during junior age, and was seen optimistically by the clansmen, predicted to be a possible A grade talent. Yet after the Awakening Ceremony, he was tested to be a C grade, greatly disappointing the clan.

The third report was on Yami's recent trail.

His everyday life patterns were very simple, and he had a rigid schedule. During the day he would always be attending lessons in the academy, and in the night he would always sleep in the dormitories. He was extremely hardworking in his cultivation, and would always enter a Gu Master's cultivation every night, nurturing his aperture. There were times he would go out to the village's only inn to have better meals and buy wine to drink.

He had a special affection towards wine, and loved to drink the green bamboo wine. Under his hostel bed, he kept tens of pots of green bamboo wine.

The academy elder looked carefully again at the three reports, his heart forming a deeper impression of Yami again.

"Both his parents died early, and he was unable to get along with his uncle and aunt… No wonder this brat Yami does not have a sense of belonging towards the clan. He was personally crowned as a genius among all by the clansmen, yet they also personally plucked him out of the sky and threw him down to the earth… No wonder he is so wild and unruly, and so peculiarly cold and detached. His life is so simple and he is assiduous towards cultivation. This is him holding back his breath, unwilling to concede, he wants to prove his ability to the clan! Thus that is why when I suppressed him, he retaliated so fiercely…"

Once the academy elder carefully thought until this point, he could not help but heave a sigh.

The more he learnt about Yami, the more he understood Yami.

Of course, understanding does not mean forgiving. Yami went against him, offending his dignity, rejecting to be class chairman, and even extorting his classmates. These were things he could not tolerate.

Shaking the information in his hands, the academy elder frowned again. "Although these reports are detailed, they have nothing to do with Yami's advancement secret. It has already been a few days, these people are atrocious!"

Boom, boom, boom.

At this time, knocking sounds were heard on the door.

"Come inside," the academy elder said.

The door opened.

It was the clan head, Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal guard. "The clan leader has orders, esteemed elder, please hurry to the main family pavilion, there is a matter to discuss."

"Oh, what's the matter?" The academy elder stood up from his seat, he had felt the severity of the issue from the guard's tone and expression.

"The Rank four Gu Master Sir Uchiha Itachi has come back, his brother Uchiha Sasuke has gone missing!" The guard answered.


	10. A True Hero Doesn't Rely On Plot Armor

**A True Hero Doesn't Rely On Plot Armor**

"Hiss..." The academy elder instantly drew a mouthful of cold air.

The moon, round like a wheel, was faintly discernable among the floating clouds.

The academy elder hurriedly walked on the road, his face barely visible under the flickering moonlight.

It was hard to survive in this world, and Gu Masters going missing was a common thing. With his extensive life experience, the academy elder knew that under normal circumstances, these sort of sudden disappearances often spelled death.

Anyone can die, but Uchiha Sasuke cannot! Especially not dying in the Konoha village.

His identity was special, his father being the Uchiha Family head, his brother being the Rank four Gu Master Uchiha Itachi.

A Rank four Gu Master has yellow gold primeval essence, and they have absurd fighting power. Within the Konoha Clan, only the clan leader is Rank four and can match up to him, while the other clan elders were all Rank three.

The Uchiha Family head was at an even higher cultivation level. He was a Rank five, and under his lead the Uchiha Family rose to prosperity, becoming a large sized clan and possessing the resources of an entire mountain, with a large number of clansmen. Compared to them, Konoha Clan was just a middle sized one.

If the two clans fought, Konoha village would definitely have the disadvantage.

The most crucial part was, if this matter was spread, the Konoha Clan's reputation would be tarnished. Many merchants are vigilant in choosing their routes. Without the interaction with merchants, the Konoha Clan's surplus local resources would not have an avenue to sell, and the external resources they required would not be purchasable. As time passes, they would definitely weaken.

"This matter is severe, if we do not handle it well, it would be a disaster!" The academy elder worriedly rushed towards the clan head's pavilion.

Once he stepped into the conference hall in the clan head's pavilion, the academy elder felt the solemn and serious atmosphere.

The main seat was occupied by the current clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi. The fat and short Uchiha Itachi brought along five to six followers with him and stood at the center of the hall, adopting an accusative stance.

Under the bright light of the lamp, the solemn faces of the elders who were standing at side of their chairs were evident.

Uchiha Itachi was a Rank four Gu Master, and since he was not sitting, these Rank three clan elders naturally did not dare to sit.

This was the deterrent force of a Rank four Gu Master.

It was also a form of respect for power.

"Greetings…." The clan elders were about to pay their respects, but they were stopped by the clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands.

Hiruzen Sarutobi who had grizzled white hair was using his finger to rub his temple, a look of distress on his face, "I'm not going to say more about the matter, the clan academy is always under your supervision. Let me ask you, where is Uzumaki Yami?"

The academy elder was shocked. Internally he thought, how does this have to do with that brat Yami?

He answered politely, "At this timing, he should be cultivating in the academy hostel."

The clan leader sighed, "brother Itachi is very suspicious now, he thinks that his brother Uchiha Sasuke's disappearance has something to do with Yami. I order you to go and bring him here immediately."

The academy elder shuddered in his heart. "Yes!"

He understood the severity of this issue, and hurriedly paid his respects before he turned around and left.

"brother Itachi, that Yami will be brought here immediately, have a seat." Hiruzen Sarutobi pointed at a seat near him and said to Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi laughed bitterly, cupping his fists at Hiruzen Sarutobi. "I apologise to Brother! I was really anxious then, it has already been days since I've seen my brother, I fear for the worst. I really cannot afford to wait."

There are some things that, only after losing them can they be understood.

Uchiha Itachi only realised it in these few days, the reason why his father paired him up with the burden Uchiha Sasuke for the caravan.

It was to test his nature. Seeing if he could, while suppressing his brother, remember their kinship, and at the same time take care of this little brother.

If Uchiha Sasuke was dead now, how would his father view him?

When he realized this point, he immediately held investigations in the caravan, and quickly set his target on the Konoha village.

He rushed back without a single break.

Now that he was standing, reluctant to sit, it was to create the impression that he was determined to get the culprit. This was both emitting pressure on the Konoha Clan as well as giving his father a form of assurance when he return to the Uchiha Family.

"Reporting to clan leader sir, Yami has been brought here." Quickly, the academy elder brought Yami to the hall.

"Uzumaki Yami pays his respects to clan elder, Sir Uchiha Itachi, and the various clan elders," Yami said with an expressionless face.

"It's him?" Uchiha Itachi coldly observed Yami, at the same time, asked a female Gu Master.

This female Gu Master was the one who Yami bought the purple gold rock from at the gambling den.

"Yes, it's him! There is no mistake," The female Gu Master stared at Yami, saying confidently.

Uchiha Itachi nodded. Immediately his gaze was like two steel blades, slashing at Yami. But he did not interrogate openly, for this was the Konoha village, thus he had to give the Konoha Clan leader some respect.

Thus he looked towards the Konoha Clan leader.

The Konoha Clan leader had a serious expression. He knew that Uchiha Itachi purposely conversed with the female Gu Master loudly; it was not only to confirm Yami's identity, but also to assert his motive.

He was implying to the Konoha Clan head that he had the evidence in his hands, "I have sufficient confidence, so you better not overly defend your own clansman."

This caused some displeasure in the Konoha Clan leader's heart, thinking, "You Uchiha Itachi lost your brother, it was your mistake to begin with. Now you come here to our Konoha village with an accusative stance, do you think my Konoha Clan can be easily bullied? My Konoha Clan is impartial and works around based on logic, but don't be mistaken that this is a weakness!'

Thinking of this, he did not interrogate Yami immediately, but fiercely said to the female Gu Master, "Did you see clearly? I'm not afraid to tell you this, but Yami has a twin brother who looks extremely identical to him, are you really sure it's him?"

The female Gu Master was just a Rank one, and under Hiruzen Sarutobi's pressure, she instantly showed a hesitant and nervous expression.

Uchiha Itachi frowned and took a step forward, blocking her from Hiruzen Sarutobi's sight. Cupping his fists, he said, "Brother , I've always respected the Konoha Clan. Especially the Konoha Clan's first and fourth clan leader, these two were Rank five powerhouses. One built the clan from scratch, where he went through tough times and created the Konoha family's hundred year foundation. Another was a benevolent hero, for to protect his clan he sacrificed himself, and is worth respecting. Brother , as the clan leader, I believe you will act impartial, please interrogate this Yami."

Hearing that his tone had softened, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, but his heart had already decided.

If this Yami was the culprit, then he would hand him over. After all he was just a C grade, there is no loss in losing him. As long as it is able to settle this dispute.

If Naruto was the one who did it, Yami also has to take the blame. Naruto is an A grade genius, the only one in three years. The clan higher-ups still expect to nurture him greatly to go against that Haku from the Kiri village.

"Yami, don't be nervous." Konoha Clan leader smiled benevolently, using a gentle tone towards Yami, "Let me ask you, do you know any information about that Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Who is Uchiha Sasuke?" Yami looked up and said calmly.

"He's lying!" The female Gu Master from the gambling den shrieked right as Yami finished his question.

The people in the discussion hall, upon hearing this shrieking, frowned and all looked towards her.

The female Gu Master pointed at Yami, showing an agitated expression, "It's him, it's him! At our gambling den, he bought six purple gold rocks, and the fifth was a mudskin toad. Young master Uchiha Sasuke saw it and tried to use five hundred primeval stones to purchase it. This left a huge impression on me, even if a year or two passes I will not forget. Not only me, but the other Gu Masters at the gambling den saw it too."

"Is that so…" The Konoha Clan leader's smiled disappeared, showing a stiff expression and dragging his question towards Yami.

Yami only nodded now, showing a hint of nervousness, and pretended to suddenly realize, "Oh it's him. Alright, if he's Uchiha Sasuke, then I do know him. But after the gambling den incident, I did not see him ever again."

"He's lying again!" This time, it was not the female Gu Master, but a male Gu Master who called out in public.

Yami looked towards him, and as if he had recognised him, showed an expression of shock, but quickly tried to hide it.

His expression changes were reflected in everyone's eyes.

Everyone started to ponder.

"Esteemed sirs, I am an employee at the wine shop." The male Gu Master first cupped his fists to everyone, and then vigorously pointed at Yami, "That night, I saw clearly at the wine shop, he was sitting with young master Uchiha Sasuke, and the two secretly conversed for a long time!"

Once he said so, the hall erupted into a clammer of soft discussions.

The academy elder used a cold gaze and looked at Yami.

The Konoha Clan master moved backwards slightly, slowly leaning on the large chair.

"How can that be!" Yami showed an obviously frantic expression, hurriedly saying, "The wine shop had so many people, how can you recognise me just like that? You might be mistaken yourself!"

"Haha, I am definitely not wrong." The male Gu Master smiled, his gaze staring at Yami, at this moment he felt extremely confident.

"Not to mention it was young master Uchiha Sasuke who coming to our wine shop, we have to take care of him carefully. Even if it was not him, I would still have had recognised you, as you had given me a strong impression!"

Saying so, he raised his eyebrows, saying smugly, "Do you still remember? That day you came to our shop, wanting a cup of monkey wine. But you only drank a mouthful. After that you released the Liquor worm and fed the remaining monkey wine to it. I saw the Liquor worm and was very agitated, wanting to purchase it from you but you refused to sell it and walked away immediately!"

"Good, exactly what I wanted to hear." Yami laughed coldly in his heart, but showed an expression of shock on his face, subconsciously taking a step backwards.

"Liquor worm!" The eyes of the academy elder behind Yami shone.

But quickly he frowned again, and could not help but ask, "Yami, where did you get that Liquor worm?"

Yami clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, but refusing to answer.

The surrounding clan elders flew into a rage, starting to scowl.

"Yami, do you know the trouble you've caused!"

"Talk, exactly what happened?"

"Tell us of what you know, own up. This Liquor worm, is it Uchiha Sasuke's?"

"How can it be his? The Liquor worm is obviously obtained by myself! I opened it!" Yami raised his head suddenly, his expression worked up, as if he could not stand such a slander, and shouted loudly with an indignant emotion.

"You opened it?" Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply.

"That's right, at this point, I shall not hide it any further!" Yami acted as if he was risking everything, speaking urgently, "I bought six pieces of purple gold rock at the gambling den, but because I did not have enough primeval essence, I only opened five on the spot. The last one, I brought back to the hostel and after opening it, I found a Liquor worm inside. I was overjoyed as I had searched up information on it before, and knew that the Liquor worm is a rare Gu worm that could supplement my lack of talent, thus I refined it on the spot."

"Wait, you said that you bought six gambling rocks and opened a mudskin toad as well as another Liquor worm?" The clan elders upon hearing this, could not help but ask in an unbelievable tone.

"So what?" Yami answered as a matter of fact, then pointed at the female Gu Master, shouting, "She can be my witness!"

Everyone on the scene were momentarily stunned before turning to look at the female Gu Master.

The female Gu Master felt the pressure from all the gaze and did not dare to lie, so she honestly said, "It is indeed true, Yami bought six rocks and opened the mudskin toad on the fifth. He brought the sixth piece away, but I do not know what he opened inside."

"Buying six purple gold rocks and getting two Gu worms consecutively, isn't this luck way too good?" The clan elders mumbled.

"What's so hard to understand? It's luck, who knows, heh, back in the days when I gambled rocks I also…"

"Wait, Gu worms are hard to refine, why did it sound like Yami easily refined it?" Some of the family elders asked suspiciously.

"You're muddled. Don't you know that when a Gu is extracted from a fossil, they're extremely weak, tittering on the brink of death? Even refining then from a lower Rank is possible. What's so peculiar about him refining the Liquor worm?" Someone immediately answered.

Yami continued, "I refined the Liquor worm and went to the stores on the second day, I indeed went to a wine shop in the afternoon and bought a cup of monkey wine. At night, I went again and witnessed a scamming scene, Uchiha Sasuke was selling a smelly fart fat worm as a Black Boar Gu to someone in my clan. Next, Sir Uchiha Itachi appeared and resolved the dispute."

"I went to the wine shop again, but I did not expect to see Uchiha Sasuke drinking wine in a poor mood. I had just obtained the Liquor worm and was extremely happy, so I asked him how many primeval stones I could sell it for. Who knew that Uchiha Sasuke upon hearing my Liquor worm, wanted to forcefully buy it. I obviously rejected him, I had no intentions to sell it, only wanting to know its value. Even if I wanted to sell it, that would have to be after I am Rank two, thus I left on the spot."

Yami's words had brought out the matter of Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi's conflict, causing the clan elders to see Uchiha Itachi in a different light.

Under these pressuring gazes, Uchiha Itachi coughed and asked Yami with shining eyes, "Then did my brother chase after you?"

Yami nodded, half lying, "He not only chased me, but also added an extra fifty primeval stones. But I did not want to sell it, so he was furious, claiming that the Konoha Clan was no big deal, asking me to watch out. After saying that, he walked away. I never saw him again."

Uchiha Itachi nodded internally. With his understanding of Uchiha Sasuke, he definitely would have chased after Yami and gave threats as that was his style.

If Yami said he did not chase after him, that would be a lie.

But since Yami said so, this led Uchiha Itachi to a predicament. His investigations led up only to this clue. Did Uchiha Sasuke really not search for Yami after that? Maybe he found Yami again afterwards, and as the two could not agree on the matter, he was killed by Yami - This is entirely possible.

'Speak, was Uchiha Sasuke killed by you!" Thinking of this, Uchiha Itachi interrogated fiercely, attempting to pressurize Yami with his aura.

Yami denied once again, claiming that he did not see Uchiha Sasuke anymore.

Uchiha Itachi had no other evidence, and while one side questioned intensely, the other denied. At this point, it had become a stalemate.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to their conversation, he turned displeased. That Uchiha Sasuke actually dared to threaten the Konoha Clan on Elemental mountain, this was not giving the Konoha Clan any respect! Now this Uchiha Itachi dared to interrogate a Konoha Clan member so intensely in front of all the Konoha Clan higher-ups. Nevermind if he had evidence, but now that he has no evidence or proof, if this matter spread out, what would happen to the Konoha Clan's honour?

"brother Itachi, it's not that I want to speak out of turn." The clan leader interrupted his interrogation and continued, " Uchiha Sasuke has gone missing for so many days, hope is bleak. The culprit who caused this crime definitely left behind some traces. Did brother find anything yet?"

Uchiha Itachi stared fiercely at Yami before raising his head and sighed, "I understand brother's words! If there were any traces, I would not have come here to find the culprit. That criminal is obviously experienced with vile methods and meticulous handling. To speak the truth, all the clues are at a dead end, and on the day we left, there was a huge rain that could have washed away all the possible blood traces."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled faintly. "brother Itachi, I heard that your Uchiha Family has a tracing Gu worm called the Underworld Path Butterfly. It can emit soul fragrance and be implanted on Gu worms. The scent is colourless and odourless, and never fades. Your Uchiha Family member's Gu worms all have this scent. As long as you use the Underworld Path Butterfly, following the fragrance, you'll be able to find the Gu worms and thus your brother."

Uchiha Itachi solemnly said, "I used the Underworld Path Butterfly long ago, but there was no effect. I'm sure you've heard that once the Gu worm dies, the fragrance dissipates. Evidently the murderer killed all of the Gu worms in my brother's possession.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words turned, "That's strange. The murderer harmed your brother, but he did not go for the Gu worms, or for extortion to get primeval stones. The murderer killed this tiny Rank one Gu Master, what was the motive?"

Indeed, what was the motive?

Regardless of whether Uchiha Sasuke was dead, there had to be a motive, right?

If not for Gu worms nor primeval stones, then was it for love?

But if it was a crime of passion, it had to be a long term process, and Uchiha Itachi would not have come to the Konoha Clan. The caravan members and clansmen would fall under greater suspicion as they have a long relationship with him.

At once, the hall fell into silence.

Yami followed everyone's gazes, and suddenly said to Uchiha Itachi, "Maybe Uchiha Sasuke was killed by you. I heard before that your family is splitting assets, now that one brother is dead, wouldn't you get more inheritance?"

"Shut up!"

"Baseless accusation, do not slander Sir Uchiha Itachi."

Immediately the family elders erupted.

Yami kept quiet immediately, his gaze shining obscurely, but his objective had been reached.

His earlier words were like a pebble that was thrown into the elders' sea of thoughts, causing waves of ripples.

The clan elders followed this train of thought, and started to think, "Uchiha Itachi cannot kill Uchiha Sasuke, this causes more harm to him than reward. Wait, even if he won't do it, that does not mean others won't..."

"The Uchiha Family's internal dispute!" A certain elder had a flash of inspiration and lightly muttered.

His volume was not high, but in the silent hall it could be heard clearly.

At once, the elders' gaze shone.

"Finally, they have thought of this." Yami's mouth twitched, his eyelids drooping, hiding away his cold gaze.

The Uchiha Family's clan leader wants to split the assets and impart the role of clan leader, and because of this his children underwent intense competition, especially Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito, both being Rank four Gu Masters and having their own supporters.

In these few years, the Uchiha Family situation is somewhat known by many of the mountain villages.

Uchiha Sasuke's misfortune was too strange. Currently there was no evidence showing that Yami was the killer. It was obvious that the motivation for murder was not enough just based on the theory of killing just because of a Liquor worm. At the same time, the murderer's actions and methods would not be so meticulous and secretive.

But if Uchiha Obito was the one acting in the shadows, then it could be explained.

Everyone present was a higher-up, and as someone in a position of power, there had to be something capable about them. At least for political schemes, they had great intuition and perception.

The Uchiha Family dispute, this gave everyone's imaginations a pair of wings.

The Uchiha Family clan leader had arranged Uchiha Sasuke to join the caravan. One reason was to test Uchiha Itachi's nature, to see if he was a good brother, and only suppressed but not bully his brother.

Now that Uchiha Sasuke was in trouble, Uchiha Itachi would be implicated, and who is the true winner?

Obviously Uchiha Itachi's greatest competitor - Uchiha Obito!

The criminal's actions were so fluid, causing all clues to come to a dead end, this showed how experienced the criminal was. How could this be done by a fifteen year old like Yami?

All the answers were revealed at once!

The discussion hall was still silent, but the elders exchanged gazes full of meaning.

"To make someone believe in something wholeheartedly, it is not through convincing, but directing." Yami's keen observation allowed him to see these glances, and he laughed coldly in his heart, but his face still showed an expression of indignance and stubbornness.

Uchiha Itachi's face was so dark and gloomy it could drip water.

The matter of the Uchiha Family internal dispute caused him to think of Uchiha Obito.

At that moment, his soul shook!

Who else had a greater motivation than Uchiha Obito?

No one!

"I understand now, I understand everything." The academy elder stood behind Yami, looking at him. His eyes shone, "Yami is both lucky and unfortunate, meeting Uchiha Sasuke at the last moment. With his age of just starting to attend school, how can he get rid of all the evidence? If he had such scheming abilities, how can he show this expression of indomitability. He denied it earlier just to hide the existence of the Liquor worm."

At this point, everyone had dispelled their suspicious towards Yami!

"Getting rid of the suspicions on me is just the first step, what happens next is crucial." Yami was in grasp of the situation, and at this point, everything was going according to plan. He sighed internally and looked at Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi looked at him too, the unfriendliness in his eyes growing obviously more intense.

Uchiha Itachi was conflicted.

He had dispelled his suspicions of Yami and was certain that Uchiha Obito was the mastermind.

"But yet, so what if I know the truth?" Uchiha Itachi felt anger and sadness surging, "I have no evidence at hand, so if I accused Uchiha Obito in front of father without any proof, father might even think I am trying to frame him!"

Uchiha Itachi was smart, and he looked at Yami, a light flashing in his eyes.

Uchiha Sasuke had journeyed with him together, and now that he was missing, it was Uchiha Itachi's fault for not taking care of him! Since he could not accuse Uchiha Obito, he had to give his father some answer.

And this answer was in front of him!

"That's right, if Yami is the scapegoat, it would at least help me get through this crisis. Once I get over it, I can get back at Uchiha Obito with twice the payback." Uchiha Itachi thought deviously.

He raised his pitch, interrogating Yami, "Yami, how do you prove that you did not harm Uchiha Sasuke?"

The clan elders were stunned. This is obviously your internal dispute, why are you still grabbing onto my clansman?

Only the Konoha Clan leader looked grim, his expression turning sharp as he stared at Uchiha Itachi.

"Yami, what proof do you have to show that you were not present at the time and did not harm Uchiha Sasuke? If you can't prove it, you are the murderer!" Uchiha Itachi pointed at Yami, his gaze furious as he threatened with his aura.

"He's trying to push our clan's Yami into being the scapegoat. How atrocious!" At this point, the clan elders had reacted and their expressions all turned unkind.

They had been fighting and scheming against each other for a long time, so if they thought about it, they would know easily about Uchiha Itachi's standpoint and intentions.

"Witness? Of course I do! I prepared it long ago." Yami smiled internally, but showed an expression of shock, as if he wanted to speak but couldn't.

"No need for others, just tell me if you do or not!" Uchiha Itachi raised his voice again, forcing Yami.

Yami showed an indignant expression, but finally gritted his teeth and said helplessly, "No."

"Haha. Then you are —"" Uchiha Itachi was about to declare his verdict but at that point.

"Halt!" The academy elder took a step forward and stood in front of Yami with a solemn expression, "Of course he has a witness, that would be me!"

"You?" Uchiha Itachi asked in shock.

"That's right, me." The academy elder, facing Rank four Uchiha Itachi, was slightly overpowered. But seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's encouraging gaze, he gathered his courage and raised his head, "These days when Yami unexpectedly became the first to break through the middle stage, I sent my men to investigate him. His everyday activities and actions are recorded down, there was no time for him to harm Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yes, this is it…" Yami hid behind the academy elder's back, where no one could see his curled lips, revealing a smile.

Uchiha Itachi's expression was dim, he did not expect the academy elder to stand out and protect Yami.

The crucial point was, the Konoha Clan leader did not object. This had a great meaning, for it meant the Konoha Clan was going to protect Yami.

"I get it! I wanted to get Yami to become the scapegoat, but that was from my perspective, and I did not consider their perspective. Indeed, once Yami is criminalized, the Konoha Clan has to bear the evil name of harming a Uchiha Family member. From then on they will have to face the Uchiha Family's retribution as well as losing their own reputation. Furthermore, future caravans would not dare to come here and trade anymore, the loss is too great!"

Thinking of this, Uchiha Itachi was anguished and wanted to slap his own head.

The Konoha higher-ups did have such considerations.

Yami was a C grade, so if he really harmed Uchiha Sasuke, handing him over was nothing. But the point was, now that his suspicion had been cleared, if he was handed over, wouldn't the Konoha Clan suffer a great injustice and lose out greatly?

Knowing that this conflict could not be resolved, Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth, determined to get his way. He said, "If so, why don't you let me use the Footprint Gu. Once this Gu is used, it will show us his last 30,000 footprints on the floor."

The academy elder scoffed in displeasure.

Uchiha Itachi's words meant he did not trust them. But he has no reason to stop him, thus he let Uchiha Itachi through.

"Come and test!" Yami laughed coldly at Uchiha Itachi, walking towards him with his head lowered.

He was confident, having predicted this. Thus, these few days he kept his activities within the village and did not go to the secret cave.

Under the Konoha higher-ups supervision, Uchiha Itachi did not play any tricks.

The Footprint Gu was very peculiar, it was shaped like a person's foot. Its material was like a translucent yogurt, giving others a feeling of smoothness, and the surface had a yellow-green luster.

Its size was small, being only palm size.

Uchiha Itachi held it in his hands, sending primeval essence into the Footprint Gu.

The Footprint Gu became brighter, and then suddenly with a "bam" sound, exploded into a cloud of yellow green powder.

The powdery cloud enveloped Yami and spun around him before flying out of the discussion hall.

Where the powder cloud passed through, the floor would show a series of footprints.

These footprints glowed in a yellow green light around the same size as Yami's foot. They were Yami's footprints when he entered the discussion hall.

The footprints extended from the family head pavilion into the academy hostel and then to the academy and circulated. Other than that, it reached the mountain village's inn.

The powder cloud became smaller as it flew, and finally at the 30,000th step, it vanished.

The results were clear, everyone had checked and knew that Yami was innocent, there were no suspicious points.

Uchiha Itachi sighed, taking out a small jade box.

He opened the jade box, where there was only a jade piece inside.

The jade piece was a translucent emerald colour, and there was a Gu sealed inside.

This was a phasmids, its body long and slim, with the colour of jade, its entire body looking like a bamboo tube.

The phasmids was normally longer than a palm, but this one wasn't, being only the size of a fingernail. On its surface, it emitted a white glow.

"Green jade as its body, white light enveloping its form, this is the Bamboo Gentleman!" At once, some of the elders recognised this Gu worm and exclaimed.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi was moved. He could not refrain from advising, "brother Itachi, this Bamboo Gentleman is a Rank four Gu, it is not easily refined. Why waste it here?"

Uchiha Itachi shook his head, looking at Yami: "This Bamboo Gentleman was obtained through gambling rocks when I was young. The rock was only opened halfway before it could no longer be extracted. As everyone knows, this Gu worm is fed honesty as food, being able to detect lies from birth. Only an honest gentleman who has never lied can refine and feed this Gu."

"Yami, you just have to open this rock and keep the Bamboo Gentleman in your aperture. Whatever I ask you, you will answer. Next, we will take out this Gu and let everyone see if it changed colour. If the Gu changes colour, you're lying!"

"No problem." Yami did not hesitate. He immediately opened the jade piece and did as Uchiha Itachi instructed.

The Bamboo Gentleman appeared in his aperture and emitted a faint green glow, covering the primeval sea.

Yami felt that if he said a single lie, the Bamboo Gentleman could detect it and turn its body from green into another color.

But he only accepted it because he had his trump card.

"Spring Autumn Cicada!" With a thought, the Spring Autumn Cicada awakened and let out a trace of its aura.

This aura was overpowering, and it immediately suppressed the Bamboo Gentleman.

The Bamboo Gentleman emitted a green glow and immediately shrunk its body. Its entire body was curled up, trembling in fear. How could it have the excessive spirit to detect lies?

Uchiha Itachi begin interrogating, with his first question hitting home, "Yami, did you harm my brother Uchiha Sasuke?"

"No!" Yami affirmed.

Uchiha Itachi asked, "Do you have any other information about him?"

Yami shook his head, "No idea."

Uchiha Itachi asked again, "Did you say anything dishonest to us earlier?"

Yami shook his head again, "No."

"Alright, you can take out the Bamboo Gentleman now." After finishing with three questions, Uchiha Itachi instructed Yami.

Yami took out the Bamboo Gentleman, and everyone saw that it was still an emerald green colour with no changes.

The clan elders heaved a sigh of relief.

Uchiha Itachi's expression became milder as he kept the Bamboo Gentleman, cupping his fists towards Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Much offense this time, brother ."

"No matter, the truth is what we wanted to see as well." Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand, then sighed, "But what a pity for this Bamboo Gentleman."

The Bamboo Gentleman had the ability to detect lies and was a Rank four Gu, thus it was very valuable. But feeding and refining it was not easy. It had to be refined by an honest gentleman. If any other Gu Master had said a single lie, the refinement would fail and the Bamboo Gentleman would die on the spot.

Its food was honesty. It would reside in the aperture of an honest gentleman and consuming the gentleman's honesty as food to survive.

Now that the Bamboo Gentleman had been opened, it was extremely weak, but it had no food to restore its strength. After being treated so harshly by Yami, its death was set in stone.

Uchiha Itachi shook his head, looking at the Bamboo Gentleman in his head, not feeling any pity.

He said solemnly, "I have already done my best to investigate, but I received no results. This time, when I get back to the family, I will employ the divine investigator Tobirama Senju, it would definitely get this matter cleared up! Goodbye."

Saying so, he cupped his fists towards Hiruzen Sarutobi and left, crisp and quick, with a certain elegance to it.

Seeing Uchiha Itachi and the rest leaving, Hiruzen Sarutobi heaved a sigh of relief and said, "You can all leave now."

He waved at the clan elders, but suddenly thought of something and said, "Academy elder please stay back."

Without losing a single drop of sweat, Yami walked out of the family head's pavilion safe and sound.

"Clan leader, what is the matter?" The academy elder respectfully stood at a corner.

"It's nothing much, take a seat, I have a story to share with you." Hiruzen Sarutobi squinted his eyes and said slowly.

"Your subordinate shall listen with full attention!" Academy elder chose to sit at the seat closest to the clan leader.

Clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi began his story on Genten.

Some say —

Ever since Genten was able to get their names and subdued the Rules and Regulation Gu, his first order was for them to capture a longevity Gu.

Rules and Regulation Gu, one round and other other square, worked together and could capture all the Gu in the world, a longevity Gu was nothing difficult.

Genten used the longevity Gu and got back his youth, becoming 20 years old again.

But now the rules Gu said, "Human, although you subdued us, every time you command us, it will add a rule and regulation."

Regulation Gu continued, "We can catch the longevity Gu for you, this is the first order. Our new rule and regulation is, we will not repeatedly catch the same Gu for you."

That means, if Genten wanted to catch a longevity Gu again, the two Rules and Regulation Gu would not help.

Genten nodded, having no choice but to accept.

He gave his second command, "Then, other than the longevity Gu, please capture all the other ten thousand Gu in the world for me."

Rules and regulation Gu got this command and Rules Gu turned into a giant circle, encompassing the universe. Regulation Gu turned into a giant square, covering the large world.

One square and one round formed a giant net together, enveloping the entire world.

When they shrunk again and returned to Genten, all the Gu in the world other than longevity Gu were captured.

Genten was overjoyed, with this all the Gu belonged to him, from now on he was the ruler of the world!

But once he opened the net, with a swoosh, a large number of worms flew outside and the Gu that Rules and Regulation Gu worked hard to catch, all escaped fervently.

When Genten closed the net, only five Gu were left.

"Why is this?" Genten was astonished.

Rules and Regulation answered him, "Human, the world has over ten thousand Gu with all sorts of abilities. You have no strength or knowledge, how can you subdue them? We can only capture Gu for you, to subdue them, you have to rely on yourself to get them to work for you."

Next they added, "This is your second order, so we'll add a second rule and regulation - From now on, we can only catch one Gu for you at a time."

Genten could only nod, and carefully opened the net, only showing a small gap.

The remaining five Gu contained the Strength and Wisdom Gu. Seeing this, Genten was overjoyed.

He said to Strength Gu, "Strength Gu, you left me back then, do you have any regrets? If you succumb to me now, I will return you your freedom."

Strength Gu said, "Human, you are wrong. I didn't leave not because I couldn't, but because I wanted to stay. You want to subdue me but that's impossible. I only succumb to those stronger than me, but you are out of the question. However we can deal again, give me your youth and I will temporarily obey you."

Genten was reluctant upon hearing this, he had just gotten back his youth, was he about to lose it again?

But he desired strength, he knew that with strength, he would get stronger and life would get easier.

Moreover, with strength, he could subdue more Gu.

Thus, Genten accepted, and formed a second deal with it.

Genten became middle-aged at once, and the strength Gu flew out of the web and landed on Genten's shoulder.

Genten had strength, and was full of confidence.

He said to Wisdom Gu: "Wisdom Gu, you left me back then, do you have any regrets? If you succumb to me now, I will return you your freedom."

Wisdom Gu said, "Human, you are wrong. I did not leave not because I couldn't, but because I wanted to stay. You want to subdue me but that's impossible. I only succumb to those smarter than me, yet you are not smarter than me. But we can deal again, give me your middle age and I will temporarily obey you."

Genten upon hearing this, refused to do the same deal again.

He treasured his life more, and he also knew that once he sold his middle age, he would be left with old age. Before long, the Strength and Wisdom Gu would leave him again, just like last time.

Genten refused to deal, but did not want to let go of the Wisdom Gu.

Wisdom Gu was anxious, reluctantly giving in, "Alright, Human, you win. I lost to you this time. As long as you tell me what method you used to capture me, I will admit defeat and not take anything from you, being at your disposal."

Upon hearing this, Genten was overjoyed and before the Rules and Regulation Gu could stop him, he said, "I used the Rules and Regulation Gu to capture you."

Wisdom Gu laughed upon hearing, "I remembered it, so these Gu are called Rules and Regulation. Haha, now that I know your names, you can no longer capture me."

Saying so, it turned into a flash of light and flew away, vanishing into thin air.

Rules and Regulation Gu begin to complain, "Human, we told u long ago that our name should be known by you alone, and not others. Otherwise, we would be used by others. Look what happened, now that Wisdom Gu knows our names, it spells trouble."

Only then did Genten realise that he was tricked by Wisdom Gu. He was anguished, for he knew he lost the only chance he had of capturing the Wisdom Gu using Rules and Regulation.

Saying so, Hiruzen Sarutobi's story came to an end. He looked at the academy elder with a meaningful gaze.

Academy elder jumped from his seat. He had heard of Genten's story long ago, but from Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth, it had a greater meaning.

His gaze shone and his heart understood. He bowed slightly at Hiruzen Sarutobi, respectfully saying, "Clan leader, you are using this story as an analogy? Yami as the Wisdom Gu and the clan as Genten. Although Genten used the Rules and Regulation Gu to capture Wisdom Gu and managed to trap it, the Wisdom Gu eventually escaped."

Saying so, the academy elder paused and thought about it for a while, before looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Sir clan leader, you want me to let go of Yami and stop pressuring him? But he's getting more and more overboard…"

Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped the academy elder's words, holding out his hand, indicating for him to sit and speak.

The academy elder sat and heard Hiruzen Sarutobi sigh, "You, your comprehension is still superb, being an intelligent person, easily getting my point. Unfortunately your grasp of the situation is still too small, you can only see that tiny plot of land in front of you. Let me tell you, the academy is a small matter, and the clan is really the important one."

"I know what you are worried about, afraid that the other students are heavily suppressed by Yami, eventually losing the fire in their heart. Hehehe." Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, pointing at academy elder, "You're overthinking it."

"What do you think the clan is doing? Just relying on your academy to nurture new people? Of course not, behind every student, there's their parents, elders, and friends. Only with these people's support, encouragement, expectations, our Konoha Clan's new generation can have the confidence and motivation in their hearts."

"Yami has indeed repeatedly exceeded my expectations, he has a hint of outstanding excellence. I have been observing Naruto secretly and I have long known about Yami's extortions, just let him continue. Use him to train Naruto, Kiba and Shino, these rough jades. There are many advantages in this matter, at the very least this round of students have the best fighting skills among all the previous seasons."

Academy elder was worried, "But clan leader, excessive hurdles isn't a good thing either, it will crush the jade. Especially that Yami has the Liquor worm now, this worm provides great help to a Rank one Gu Master. I'm worried that at the Rank one stage, under Yami's suppression, no one can overturn the situation."

"Then let them be unable to turn over the situation!" Hiruzen Sarutobi snorted, showing the grace and callousness of a person in power, "This tiny setback, what does it matter? Is it scarier than death? With their family elder's support, if they still lacked motivation, then they are not even jade to begin with and have no value to nurture. The clan has tons of new students into the academy each year, so if this season doesn't succeed, there's always the next. As for Uzumaki Naruto, starting tomorrow night, I will teach him in secret."

"With the clan leader's personal teaching, that is really Uzumaki Naruto's fortune." Academy elder kissed ass at the appropriate timing.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression softened as he looked at academy elder, instructing, "Do you know the reason why after so many decades, you are still the academy elder? Have greater tolerance, I know Yami infringed your dignity and made you humiliated, but do you really have to be so calculative with a junior from a younger generation?"

"I know that Yami has some earlier wisdom, but he is still a youngster and tends to be rash. If not, he would not have hurt the guards in public and caused you to be in a predicament. He was furious internally back then and that is understandable. From being hailed as genius to a commoner, it is normal to be angry at the clan."

"He is actually very childish, you can tell from him trying to hide the Liquor worm. How can the Liquor worm be hid? He is not mature yet and is still innocent, don't think of him as a scary being. Comparing him to the Wisdom Gu, I am thinking too highly of him. At most, he has some small intelligence, but lacks true wisdom and knowledge. If he hid the fact that he rose to middle stage silently, or accepted the class chairman position without any displeasure, that would truly be deep scheming."

"Clan leader, your meaning is?" Academy elder raised his eyebrows.

"What I'm trying to say is, Yami is discontented with the clan, thus let him go vent his anger. An ant spitting at an elephant, will the elephant care? Emotions are meant to be let out and not bottled inside, so once he's done venting, he will naturally fuse into the clan. Our Konoha Clan has been around for nearly a thousand years ever since the first generation founded it. There has been countless of people who were discontented with the clan, but eventually did any of them manage to overturn the clan?"

"A clan is not just about rules and regulations, there's also blood relation and kinship. Genten wanted to use the rules and regulations to capture wisdom. Yet not only did he lose, but he also informed wisdom of the rules and regulations. There is profound meaning in this story - the rules are dead, but people are alive, and relationships are deep. If you only know how to use rules and regulations to catch people, it will only increase resentment and cause Yami to be more dissociated with the clan. Yami is only a C grade, if he's lucky, after tens of years he'd still be a low-ranking clan elder. But he is still Uzumaki Naruto's twin brother, do you understand now?"

"Understood!" Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's final sentence, the academy elder realized at once.

"Mmm, if a family only has rules and regulations, then the family is a pile of dead objects. But if you add in blood relationship, it'll be alive." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, "and one more sentence, I want you to remember."

"Please admonish me, sir clan elder."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, with a distant gaze, looked out of the window towards the moon, "The sea can hold the water from thousands of rivers, it's big because of its capacity. A person is great when he can be tolerant and forgiving to many other people. Remember this, and leave."

"Yes clan leader sir, your subordinate takes his leave," said the academy elder as he left the hall.

Tonight's moon was especially round.

The moonlight shone splendid and like muslin, draping over the Elemental Mountain.

The Treasure Brass Toad would travel a hundred meters with every hop. Due to its leaping method to move forward, the precipitous and narrow mountain path was unable to serve as a limitation or hindrance to it.

Uchiha Itachi and his crew sat on the back of the Treasure Brass Toad. After exiting the Konoha village, they once again headed towards the merchant caravan's direction.

The wind blew past their ears, and their view followed the Treasure Brass Toad as it moved up and down.

The moonlight shone on everyone's faces and they all looked solemn, while Uchiha Itachi's face was cold as ice.

After a while, a close subordinate could not stand this atmosphere and asked Uchiha Itachi, "Master, what are we going to do now? Uchiha Sasuke's death, once master returns, how will you answer to old master? Should we find a scapegoat first..."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head, but avoided the question, "Do you know the story of Genten?"

The subordinate was stunned, not expecting this answer. At once he did not know how to reply.

Uchiha Itachi continued, "Genten had the Rules and Regulation Gu, and could capture all the ten thousand Gu in the world, obtaining strength but losing wisdom. At that point his net still contained three Gu. He opened and saw that they were the Attitude Gu, Belief Gu and Suspicion Gu respectively. Genten was unwilling to let them go, thus the three Gu could only bet with him. Once Genten opens the net, they would run out in three different directions, and whoever is captured by Genten would be subdued. Guess, who did Genten capture in the end?"

The trusted aide thought, and answered, "It's the Attitude Gu!"

"Do you know why?" Uchiha Itachi asked. The loyal subordinate shook his head.

Uchiha Itachi laughed, "Because attitude means everything. No matter if father 'believes' or 'suspects', I have already displayed my 'attitude'. Uchiha Sasuke went missing, and I immediately conducted investigations in the caravan. Once I had a clue, I rushed towards the Konoha Clan without stop. At the village, I risked the danger of being attacked by them and interrogated them on the spot. I did not even sit down, and to prove Yami's words, I went as far as to use the Rank four Bamboo Gentleman."

"Once I get back, I will even spend a ton of money to employ the divine investigator, inviting Tobirama Senju to investigate this matter. Regardless of whether Uchiha Sasuke is dead or alive, as his brother I have already done all that I should, my attitude shows everything! I have thought it through earlier, we do not need a scapegoat. We shall go back in this honest state, because I was not at fault for this matter! Finding a scapegoat, that might just be a trap by Uchiha Obito. If I can find a scapegoat, he can also find someone to overturn the case."

His subordinate was shocked and said, "Master, you really suspect that young master Uchiha Obito was behind this?"

"Hmph, who else but him can do something so perfectly?" Saying so, Uchiha Itachi's face distorted, anger bursting from his eyes, "Before this, I was thinking about our blood relationship and did not do such a thing to him. But since he is so devious, I will have to pay him back an eye for an eye, don't blame me for being unscrupulous!"

He did not know that far away in a distant place, there were a pair of eyes sending him off.

Yami stood on the hillside as he silently watched.

The view tonight was truly spectacular.

The golden yellow, round moon was high up in the night sky, shining so brightly that the entire earth was lit bright.

The nearby green mountains were verdant and lush, all kinds of flora growing about. The Man Mountain's pine and cypress trees, as well as the Elemental Mountain's distinctive green spear bamboo grew in continuous clumps, cluster after cluster. A wide expanse of dark green colour poured down in torrents from the mountaintop and flowed down to the foot of the mountain.

Faraway mountains ranged endlessly, forming a muddled heavy black shadow under the moonlight.

The tortuous and entwined mountain road resembled goat intestines as it meandered into the distance, occasionally sheltered away by the forest, stretching out all the way.

Uchiha Itachi and his group sat atop the Treasure Brass Toad, following the mountain road as they moved forward. As they continued on the leaping toad, their figures were finally covered away by the trees.

Although the mountain terrain could not affect the Treasure Brass Toad's speed, Uchiha Itachi did not dare to recklessly cut through Elemental mountain, for if he barges into a monster horde, even with his Rank four cultivation he would still not come out unscathed. Hence following the mountain trail and moving forward is the best path.

Not long ago, Yami was standing on the hill holding an umbrella, sending the caravan off. But now he was here again, watching Uchiha Itachi leave.

"The trouble from killing Uchiha Sasuke is finally settled." He eyes were dark and remote while his heart was calm, a bout of peacefulness.

Even since he killed Uchiha Sasuke that night, he had been considering how to tie the loose ends.

He was clear that without base or support, if the truth was revealed, the Konoha Clan would definitely sacrifice him. But if he just hid it blindly, the truth was bound to get exposed one day.

A smart way to lie, is to have truth and lies, some truth in his lies, and some lies in his truth.

He had to direct the trouble elsewhere!

This incident was like a chess game with two sides against each other. One side is Uchiha Itachi's caravan, while the other is the Konoha Clan. In this incident, be it Hiruzen Sarutobi, the academy elder or Uchiha Itachi, they were all pawns, heck even Yami himself was just a pawn.

To protect the pawn that represents himself, he had to use the two opposing sides and find a chance in between.

Few days ago, Yami had already started plotting.

He first made use of those two guards to come up with a good show with the academy elder at the academy. Next he hid the existence of the Liquor worm and stirred the curiosity of the clansman, gaining great attention, attracting the higher-ups. Simultaneously, he allowed the academy elder to hold private investigations.

Next, he extorted his classmates and expressed his rashness, wildness and displeasure towards the clan, "showing weakness" to the Konoha higher-ups.

Then he counted the days and waited for Uchiha Itachi.

During the interrogation he displayed his immaturity and fear, which allowed him to lead the other's thoughts by the nose. Letting them find out the "truth".

Lastly he made use of the Konoha Clan and Uchiha Itachi's opposing interests, and turned the academy elder who was suspicious of him and held investigations, into his eye witness.

The Bamboo Gentleman was a small unexpected accident, but it was still a Rank four Gu and under the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, the Bamboo Gentleman ironically became Yami's greatest evidence.

Finally, Yami not only explained perfectly where he got the Liquor worm, but also pushed the blame to the innocent Uchiha Obito, while he himself got out of this incident without losing a hair.

"Academy elder was asked to stay behind, it seems that Hiruzen Sarutobi is going to interfere in the academy's matters and get rid of the plan to pressurize me. With his nature, he does have this tolerance. But his real motive isn't me, it should probably be Naruto. One of my motives for blowing up the matter was to stir a commotion and make the higher-ups notice. If Hiruzen Sarutobi doesn't show up, there will still be Inuzuka Gaku and Shibi Aburame who would come out to defend their reputation."

"As for Uchiha Itachi, he should be certain that Uchiha Obito is the culprit now. With the flames of revenge burning in his chest, hehe, I am looking forward to it. With my interference, their sibling conflict would be elevated. I wonder if that Gu Master competition would be brought forward?"

"Oh yes, there is still that divine investigator Tobirama Senju. Tobirama Senju... hmph." Yami repeated this name, and after half a beat, lightly smiled, "Among the righteous path, this is indeed a character. Unfortunately he is riddled with official business and has a tight schedule. For this matter, it is not easy to get him to come. Uchiha Itachi wants to show his attitude thus he has to invite him, but the time is hard to gauge, at the very least it should be arranged in two to three year's time."

In two to three years, he would have Rank two or three cultivation. By then, life would be in a completely different sight.

The night wind blew over with the fresh cool air of the mountains, penetrating with a kind of fragrance.

Yami breathed in, feeling more refreshed.

He looked into the distance, his field of view wide. The unrestrained mountains were picturesque, looking tranquil and auspicious under the moon.

"The bright moon illuminates among pines, the clear spring flows upon stone." Yami lightly recited, he could not help but think of a verse from a fable from the Shinobi World.

There were a group of monkeys that pursued the moon. They saw the moon in the well, and they wanted to fish it up. The monkey from behind grabbed hold of the tail of the monkey before it, and the monkey before it grabbed ahold of the monkey in front of him. Thus this went on repeatedly until the first monkey was able to touch the water surface of the well.

Once it stretched out its hand, the water rippled and the moon disappeared.

People in this world were like this. They would see the reflection of the moon, and think that it is the real thing.

Not knowing it was just the moon in the well, the moon in their eyes, or simply the moon in their hearts.

"In this life I hope to become the real moon, rising above the mountains and heavens, toying with the clouds and seas, following the ancient times and walk in the darkness above the various heavens." Yami's eyes were crystal clear, and the beautiful green mountains were reflected on his pupils.

On the hill, the thin body of a teenager stood silently.

A golden moon wheel shaped like a disk suspended high in the night sky.

It has existed since ancient times, travelling through the night sky, casting the small shadow of the teenager faintly onto the limestones.


	11. A True Hero Does Not Succumb To Greed

**A True Hero Does Not Succumb To Greed**

The night sky of early summer is beautiful.

There was not a single cloud floating in the sky, and the stars flickered like crystals, shining with emotionally moving radiance.

Sandalwood crickets appeared on stage to take over the place of the dragonpill crickets, and they sang their emotional songs in the grassy bushes, creeks and tree branches.

The Konoha village was radiantly lit, as if it was reflecting the bright starry sky.

One by one the dark green bamboo houses stood in the night wind, and beneath the star dome it had a tranquil and peaceful ambience.

Yami was not in the village now, but he had snuck into the secret cave among the rock cracks.

He half-kneeled on the ground, his hand caressing the image wall, his palm emitting a lump of blue-coloured moonlight.

On the image wall, the original scene was already gone, and it was now no different from the other surrounding stone walls. If Yami did not remember this position, who else would know that hidden under this image wall was Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance?

On a night over a month ago, the image wall transformed and the Flower Wine Monk's secret hideout appeared. The image wall first showed a video of Flower Wine Monk bathed in blood, but proclaimed he was leaving his inheritance. Next was a line of bloody words, hinting for the discoverer to break the image wall and the cave opening would appear. Then the words vanished, and the image wall's Photo-audio Gu's strength was depleted, and the image wall went back to being an ordinary wall.

Although he knew about the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, Yami did not have the time to explore it.

As it was an unexpected occurrence, he had to kill Uchiha Sasuke on the spot and was busy that night getting rid of the evidence. Towards the impending interrogation, he had to plot carefully and had restricted his activities inside the village.

Until when Uchiha Itachi left and after the academy elder stopped his investigations, about ten days later, the attention had waded and Yami could finally sneak back into the cave.

In the aperture, the green copper sea was reducing as Yami deployed his primeval essence into the Moonlight Gu on his right palm.

The Moonlight Gu emitted a gentle moonlight and flickered continuously. Under its effect, the rock wall was shaved off slowly, and large amounts of rock powder fell on the ground.

This was Yami's extensive control of the Moonlight Gu, the same method he used to open the gambling rocks.

Compared to opening rocks, this method was more coarse, but in breaking this thick rock wall, this method seemed a little too gentle.

This was the sixth day that Yami was using the Moonlight Gu to shave the rock wall.

On the floor was a thick pile of dark red coloured rock powder.

Logically speaking, Elemental Mountain's soil was all green-coloured. But here, the soil were strangely bright red and emitted a dark glow.

But fortunately so, because of this source of light, Yami did not need to prepare a torch.

In order to avoid being suspected, Yami did not use any tools. Steel hammers and pickaxe were undoubtedly better for breaking the rock wall, but if he did, the sound of the wall breaking would reverb all over the area.

Regardless of whether the outside world would hear a faint or loud noise, Yami wanted to eliminate all such possible suspicious points.

Fine details often decided in one's victory or defeat.

To Yami, being cautious is not just his good point, it was more like a habit to him.

In his past life he had been careless and carefree, but he quickly paid a hefty price. There is a saying that goes, 'people get more cowardly when they age'. Yet actually this is not cowardness, but patient cautiousness. 500 years of experience ingrained the word caution into his soul.

"Puff..." Taking in a deep breath, Yami slowly stopped the transmission of his primeval essence.

He plopped onto the ground, extremely exhausted.

He had dug around three inches of thickness out of the entire slab of image wall that was the height of half a man.

Yami wiped the sweat off his forehead while exercising his shoulders and stretching his legs. Due to long hours of squatting, a sense of numbness was felt from his legs.

'Knock, knock, knock'.

Yami bent his fingers and knocked on the rock wall.

Hearing the sound, he was slightly happy in his heart, as he could tell the wall was getting thinner.

Closing his eyes to meditate, he checked the situation inside his aperture once again.

The green copper primeval essence had less than 20% left.

"Continue working hard!" Yami grit his teeth and stretched out his right hand again on the rock wall.

The water-blue coloured moonlight sustained a glow for around fifteen minutes, then Yami suddenly halted his actions. He took out his right arm and found out that the rock wall had a small hole in it already.

He immediately stood up and kicked.

With a thunderous noise, the hole expanded and became as big as a bamboo basket.

Yami cautiously took a few steps backwards. He felt a sense of staleness emitting from the hole and permeating into this secret cave.

The secret cave's ventilation was not good. Yami thought about it for a moment and decided to leave the rock crack, returning to the outside world.

Only after a while did he return.

The stale feeling in the cave was slightly better than earlier, and Yami continued to expand the size of the hole, sometimes using the Moonlight Gu, and at other times using his hands to dig, or his legs to kick. After a while, he finally expanded the hole into a size that he could fit into.

Looking from the hole, there was a diagonal path downwards.

The path was initially narrow, but the deeper it was, the wider it got. A person must lower their head when entering at first, but towards the latter half of the path, they are able to take large strides with straightened backs.

The cave's walls were a weird red soil colour, emitting a faint red glow. This caused the passage's interior to be visible.

But the path was very long and extended beyond what the eye could see. Due to the angle, Yami could not see what was at the end of the path.

He stood at the cave entrance and did not immediately step in, instead squinting and standing on the spot.

A strength inheritance was not like a legacy inheritance.

Legacy was when a Gu Master died and left behind his belongings. Those who find this legacy can find the items on the corpse.

A strength inheritance is when a Gu Master who is on the verge of death and reluctant to let his legacy go extinct, or to benefit the future generations, or wants to leave behind his last trace of existence in the world, purposely set hurdles to test the people who arrive.

Taking the Flower Wine Monk for example, he set up this inheritance with a clear objective - it is to nurture an avenger, to take revenge on the Konoha Clan!

If the person who comes along is able to pass these trials he(she) would obtain all sorts of benefits. The person who gets through the final test would obtain the entire strength inheritance.

According to the two factions, strength inheritance is split into the righteous inheritance and the demonic inheritance.

Righteous inheritances often had exquisite design, to test the nature and character of the person. Those who fail midway, would not be in any mortal danger.

Demonic inheritance was more complex.

Those demonic cultivators were often insane and persistent, cold-blooded, or a mass murderer, unable to be assessed by normal standards.

Some demonic inheritances had trials that tested the mind. With lots of mind-boggling decisions to make, a lot of people would fall into deep and painful thoughts without getting a single result.

Some demonic inheritances were extremely simple, being a secret room with Gu worms and primeval stones inside.

Some demonic inheritances were extremely cruel, and failure midway often spelled death.

Some were more extreme - a few demonic cultivator's inheritances were a huge lie, being a giant trap itself. They followed the rules of 'bringing someone down with them', and even right before dying, they would set up this trial and trick others.

"Which type does Flower Wine Monk's inheritance belong to?" Yami thought deeply.

With his previous life's memories, he was clear of any future famous demonic inheritances. But this one in particular, no one discovered it in his lifetime, and Yami was left unaware of the details.

"By right, the chances of a trap isn't high. Otherwise the Flower Wine Monk would not design this image wall. But is there a hidden mechanism?"

Yami picked up a rock and threw it into the cave.

The rock rolled in the path and quickly rolled out of Yami's sight; he could hear a series of colliding sounds echoing in the cave.

Yami fell into deep thought. The rock testing results showed that it was safe.

But he did not enter the path yet, and instead took out some rock powder and spread it around the entrance of the secret cave. At the same time, he spread a layer on the rock crack entrance.

Next, he squeezed out of the narrow rock crack and left the place.

Around a few hundred meters from the river in a hidden bush, he found the green bamboo wine that he had brought along this time. Opening the seal, he drank a huge mouthful and purposely spilled some of the liquor, getting it on his clothes and making him smell of alcohol.

Carrying the wine, he went back to the village, and upon reaching the school hostel, it was exactly midnight.

If he did not return at night often, people would get suspicious. This was better, going out early at night and returning late at night.

When finding the Liquor worm, Yami already did this, and with that background, such behaviour was not peculiar.

The stars fade and the sun appears, a night of silence.

The bright morning sun shone on Elemental Mountain.

In the academy, the elder spoke about important details. "Tomorrow, we are choosing the second Gu worm for refinement. Everyone here has experience in successfully refining Gu worms, and this time you can solidify your experiences. For the selection of the second Gu worm, consider it carefully. With the experience of cultivating these few days and understanding of your own body, consider it as a whole. Normally, it is best if you pair the second Gu well with your vital Gu."

A Gu Master's first Gu was known as the vital Gu, and once it was chosen it would be the footing stone of their development. After that, the second and third Gu worm would be nurtured upon this footing stone and decide the Gu Master's cultivating direction.

After hearing the academy elder's words, the youngsters began to ponder, and only Yami was sleeping soundly on the table.

He had worked hard for half the night yesterday, and after returning to the hostel, he still continued in his Gu Master cultivation, nurturing his aperture. When the sun had risen, only then did he sleep.

The academy elder looked at Yami and frowned, but did not say anything.

Ever since the clan leader spoke to him, he had adopted a 'let Yami do as he wishes, I am not going to give a care' attitude.

"Which Gu worm should I choose?" As the students thought about it, they subconsciously looked towards Yami.

"Speaking of which, Yami already has his second Gu worm."

"Yeah, that is but a Liquor worm; to actually get a Liquor worm out of gambling rocks, his luck is off the charts!"

"If I had the Liquor worm, I would advance to middle stage first too huh?"

The students' thoughts varied, having admirers and jealous people among them.

Ever since that day after the interrogation, Yami's Liquor worm was successfully exposed. The origins of the liquor worm did not raise suspicion. The clansmen were both enlightened and also exasperated at Yami's luck.

"Why don't I have such luck, sigh!" Shino Aburame who was also a C grade talent sighed deeply in his heart.

Quite a while ago, his grandfather had asked around and tried to procure a Liquor worm for him. To think that even as a family branch's inheritor, he was not able to have one; to think Yami managed to get the Liquor worm before him.

Compared to Shino's envy and depression, vice chairman Naruto was full of spirit.

"Brother, I will definitely surpass you." He looked at Yami and said in his heart before looking away.

These days his eyes were shining with light, and he felt a sort of excitement towards life. His face was flushing red and his forehead was glowing, even his steps were quicker and lighter.

The academy elder saw all of it, and immediately understood that the Konoha Clan leader had started secretly teaching Naruto.

These underhand methods were obviously not for the public to know.

The academy elder turned a blind eye to this.

Soon it was night once more.

Yami entered the secret cave again.

Ring ring ring…...

In his hand, a wild rabbit was struggling, and there was a bell was on its neck.

This was a wild rabbit that Yami caught on the mountain, the bell was naturally attached by him.

After a day, the stuffy smell in the secret cave has dissipated, and the air was fresh.

The cave's passage entrance was open; it was silent inside. Yami half-kneeled on the floor as he inspected the floor. Yesterday he had sprayed rock powder all over the area, and this thin layer of powder was inconspicuous.

"The passage entrance's rock powder is intact, thus it seems that during my absence, nothing strange has crawled out of it. The rock crack entrance does have a footprint, but that's mine, so evidently no one else had come here." Yami felt at ease after his inspection.

He stood up, using his hands to pull the dead vines from the wall. Next he sat on the ground and his leg was used to hold the wild rabbit in place, leaving his two hands free to weave the vines.

This was work that normal Gu Masters wouldn't know, but Yami had too much life experience. In his past life, many a time was he so poor that he couldn't afford to feed his Gu worms, leaving them to starve to death one by one.

For a time, he had primeval essence but no Gu worms; he became just like a mortal person, even living was difficult. Having no choice, he learned to weave the grass ropes into straw sandals, hats etc. and sold them in exchange for primeval stone fragments to feed himself.

While twisting the grass ropes in his hands, Yami's memories resurfaced.

The anguish and suffering from back then had transformed into his soundless laughter now. The rabbit underneath his foot continued to struggle, the bell ringing nonstop.

A pair of two strings touch for long, ten thousands of twists and thousands of returns make their inseparable love numerous.

Delicately and slowly, with the passing of years, letting them converge. Complications, entanglements and turns present.

Weaving the grass ropes, isn't it just like experiencing life?

In the secret cave, the red light shone onto Yami's face, showing his youthfulness and experience intertwining together on his face.

Time seemed to have stopped too, silently appreciating the young man weaving his ropes.

Ring ring ring...

An hour later, the wild rabbit rapidly entered the passageway, the bell on its neck ringing continuously. In a few breaths it left Yami's field of vision.

Yami held onto the improvised grass rope that he wove temporarily, and on one end the rope was attached to the rabbit's hind leg, dragging into the tunnel with it.

After a while, the rope stopped all movement.

But this did not mean the rabbit had reached the end of the tunnel. It could have been killed by a trap or just decided to take a rest midway.

Yami began to pull at the rope, retrieving it. The rope gradually tightened as he tugged.

On the other end, a force of strength suddenly tugged back as the rope started to move towards the cave again.

Evidently the rabbit on the other side had felt the tugging force and in its fluster, started to move deeper into the cave.

After many attempts, the rabbit finally reached the end of the path, and no matter how Yami tugged at the rope, it only tightened and relaxed.

Maybe the rabbit had reached the end of the tunnel, or maybe it had fallen into a trap and got stuck.

It was simple to test and find out the answer.

Yami started to retrieve the rope. His strength surpassed the rabbit by a mile, and eventually he dragged the rabbit out by force.

The rabbit struggled at the other end, but the rope was made from materials acquired from the Wine Sack Flower Gu and Rice Pouch Grass Gu. Although it had been dead for years, it remained sturdy unlike normal grass.

The wild rabbit was once again in Yami's hands jumping about. Yami inspected the wild rabbit and saw that it had no injuries, then he finally breathed out in relief.

"For now, it seems that this segment of the passageway is safe."

With this result, the rabbit thus lost its value and Yami killed it instantly, throwing the corpse on the ground.

He could not let the rabbit go, for animals also had memories. If it came back again, and like the Liquor worm, attracted outsiders, that would be very bad.

He breathed in deeply. After several tries and probes, he finally stepped into the passageway carefully.

Even with the wild rabbit exploring, there were many traps and mechanisms that specially targeted only humans. A small animal like the wild rabbit would be unable to trigger it. Thus, Yami still had to be careful.

The tunnel was straight, diagonally slanting towards the bottom. The deeper it was, the wider and taller the passage became.

Yami had to lower his head when entering at first, but after more than fifty steps, he was able to take large strides with a straightened back, and after a hundred steps, he could walk while lifting his upper arms and brandishing them left and right.

The tunnel was not that long, it was only around 300 meters. But Yami spent around two hours venturing before he finally reached the end of the path.

On the way, he was vigilant and explored step by step. At the end of the path, he was already sweating profusely.

"It is so troublesome without a detection Gu worm." Yami wiped the sweat off his forehead and after confirming his safety, calmed down and inspected the area.

This time at one glance, he was stunned.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a huge rock. The rock's surface was smooth and protruded towards Yami's direction, resembling Uchiha Itachi's belly.

This rock alone halted Yami's progression.

Other than this huge rock, there was nothing around Yami.

"Is it because of an accident that the tunnel path was blocked, causing this?" Yami squinted as he thought about the possibilities.

Before the Flower Wine Monk died, he was eager to set up the inheritance. He used the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider and created a tunnel path. The path led deep within the mountains and to guide the inheritor in.

After hundreds of years, the passage was unable to withstand the corrosion of time and at one point, one of the areas collapsed due to lack of maintenance.

All sorts of accidents often happen in life.

"If this is the case, won't I be stuck at this point?" He went forward and touched the rock. This rock was halting his progression, its size was like a door, one could only imagine its overall thickness.

Yami could use the Moonlight Gu to carve away at the rock wall, but if he wanted to grind off this huge rock, it would take at least a year or two.

"It seems like I'm forced to use tools, I'll need to use spades and pickaxes to break the rock. Except if I do this, I might reveal some traces. The construction sounds might also travel out." Thinking of this, Yami frowned deeply. He was weighing the pros and cons.

If the risk was too huge, he would rather give up this strength inheritance.

After all, if others found out this secret, all the plotting and acting that Yami had done would go to waste, and his life would even be in danger!


	12. A True Hero Cuts All Loose Ends

**A True Hero Cuts All Loose Ends**

The sun rises, signifying the arrival of another day.

The students lined up properly, faces flushed with excitement as they stood before the academy Gu storage room.

Today was the day where they would pick their second Gu!

As the first to advance to middle stage, Yami had the priority in choosing, thus he stood at the front of the queue.

Behind him was Inuzuka Gaku, Uzumaki Naruto and Shino Aburame.

Creak.

The Gu storage room's door was opened by the guards, and Yami was the first to set foot into it.

The Gu room was not big, but was a sight to behold. The surrounding walls had square holes in them, some were big but others were small, holding all sorts of containers in them.

There was rock pots, jade pots, cages made of weaved grass, and some porcelain ware.

All sorts of Gu worms, being all Rank one, were stored in these containers. The academy probably spent more than 1000 primeval stones every day just to feed these Gu worms.

Yami glanced through and found that in many containers, they were already empty, having no Gu worms inside.

The Gu worms in the storage room were replenished once a year. Previously when they were choosing their vital Gu, most of the youngsters chose the Moonlight Gu, thus the storage room had no moonlight Gu left at the moment.

The storage room had no windows, there was only a small skylight at the rooftop.

The sunlight shone in from the skylight and formed a rectangular golden image on the ground.

The first time when he entered the Gu room, Yami already had an objective and chose the Moonlight Gu immediately. But now, he had several possible targets in his mind.

Yet these targets also depended on whether there was stock in the storage room.

Yami moved along the left wall and strolled inside slowly while examining the catalogue.

Five steps later, he paused.

A square box frame near his shoulder had a bronze bowl inside, and within it was a Gu worm.

This Gu worm was like a bedbug, flat and wide with a small head, having an oval body. It was yellow-orange throughout, and emitted a faint bronze-like glow.

This was the Bronze Skin Gu, the choice for most close-combat Gu Masters. The academy's martial arts instructor raised such a Gu, and once activated, causes the body to glow yellow, greatly raising defense.

Yami's knowledge was deep and broad, so of course he did not have any urge for this Gu. He continued forward and saw a Stone Skin Gu.

The Stone Skin Gu and Bronze Skin Gu were similar in appearance, but the Stone Skin Gu's body was grey instead, like an art piece made of rock.

After six Stone Skin Gu, there was the Iron Skin Gu.

Iron Skin Gu and Bronze Skin Gu were outwardly similar but with only a tiny difference. It was silently staying in a iron bowl, unmoving. It emitted a black iron-like glow around its body.

As humans have clans, so do Gu.

The three Gu that Yami saw simultaneously were all from the same series. They were similar in appearance and had similar effects.

"Iron Skin, Bronze Skin, Rock Skin, Jade Skin Gu….. if there is a Jade Skin Gu, I might as well choose it." Yami mumbled as his heart felt a tiny flicker of expectation rising, and he continued walking.

However he was destined to be disappointed, for after the Iron Skin Gu, he saw the Beast Skin Gu.

The Jade Skin Gu and Beast Skin Gu belonged to the same series as the Bronze Skin Gu etc. But they had great difference in value - the Beast Skin Gu was the most common, even cheaper than the Rock Skin Gu, but it had more evolutionary lines and could fuse with more varieties of Gu.

The Jade Skin Gu was the most rare Gu in this series. Its market value was only second to the Liquor worm, and at times the price would fluctuate and rival with the Liquor worm itself.

Yami took a look, but he did not find a Jade Skin Gu. He was not disappointed, but laughed in relief, "Konoha village is just a middle-sized clan, the academy Gu storage room is only of middle tier quality. To have a Jade Skin Gu, that is rather impossible."

The left side of the wall had already been inspected, so Yami swapped to another wall and continued strolling.

On this wall, there was mostly the Longhorn Beetle Gu.

Similar to the Skin Gu series, Longhorn Beetle Gu was a large clan among the Rank one Gu worms.

Their outer appearances were similar - they had long and circular cylinder figures, the back area having many outlines. A large part of the body was a black colour, giving out a metallic luster. It had a pair of feelers that were long and exceeded the body size; its chin was strong and it gave out screeching noises, like the sound of timber being sawed. With this, a few Gu Masters from some places would call them as the 'sawing tree bunch'.

What first entered Yami's vision was a Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu.

Its entire body was a red metallic colour, and it had a pair of antennae that was coarser than the usual Longhorn Beetle ones. On the top surface of the antenna there was a bamboo joint-like growth with every small interval.

This Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu was highly sought after in the market; earlier the caravan that came to the Konoha village had people who sold large numbers of this Gu.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu gave Gu Masters temporary super strength. It had the reputation of the strength of one bull, and could sustain for five breaths.

But it had two weaknesses.

One was that every activation consumed too much primeval essence. Rank one middle stage required 10% primeval essence, but if converted to initial stage, it would consume 20%.

Another was sequela. If the Gu Master had a weak constitution, using this Gu a lot would cause their muscles to get injured, even experiencing muscle tearing. Only Gu Masters with a strong body would choose to use this Gu. A small-sized person like Yami was unsuitable for it.

Yami knew this too, and walked past the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, continuing to look around.

"Oh? This is not bad." He halted his steps.

It was a Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle Gu.

The beetle's figure was a tiny bit thinner and longer than the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, the entire body coated in dark yellow colour. Its pair of long feelers did not have bamboo joints, and the roots were yellow in colour, slowly fading into black at the tip.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu could grant a Gu Master temporary strength, and this type of strength was immediate, only lasting for five breaths. But the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle Gu could grant the Gu Master durability and allow their stamina expenditure to be greatly reduced, however it could only sustain for fifteen minutes. At the same time it had no repercussions.

Among the Rank one Gu worms, the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle had high market value, comparable to the Moonlight Gu and only losing to the Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm.

Yami inspected the surroundings and found that there was only one Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle.

"The Gu is not bad, but it is not compatible with me." Yami shook his head, giving up this Gu.

Very quickly he walked and reached the corner of the wall, having finished looking at the second wall, but he was not satisfied.

The Gu in the storage room were only of this quality, and if he wanted to get lucky or get a surprise Gu, the chances were slim.

Yami turned to the third wall and continued inspecting.

On this wall, the Boar Gu were dominant.

Boar Gu was a series among the Gu worm.

There's the Flower Boar Gu, Pink Boar Gu, Black Boar Gu and White Boar Gu.

Pink Boar Gu had the least value, almost no Gu Masters chose them. It only had one ability, and that is to gain weight. After a Gu Master injects their primeval essence, the Pink Boar Gu would change their constitution and cause them to get fat. No matter how skinny they were, they would be able to become a big fat person.

There was only two to three Pink Boar Gu in the storage room, obviously of no nurturing value.

The Flower Boar Gu was the most abundant, having a dozen at least lining into a row. These Gu worms had flower patterns on the surface, either white and black, black and pink, or white and pink. There were even some that had all three colours.

The Flower Boar Gu's use was similar to the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, temporarily adding strength to the Gu master.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu gave one bull's strength, and the Flower Boar Gu gave one boar's strength. The Flower Boar Gu spent the same amount of primeval essence as the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu but could sustain for ten breaths, twice of the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu.

This was because the Gu Master gained lesser strength, thus lesser side effects.

"The Flower Boar Gu is the most common Gu worm, and it is sold most abundantly in the market. It's price is half of the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, truly value for money. But among the Boar Gu clan, only those two last Gu has greater value, being even more expensive than the Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm!" Yami's eyes showed a light of deep thoughts.

A Black Boar Gu or a White Boar Gu could sell for 600 primeval stones in the market. Once it appeared, it was often sold immediately.

The Black and White Boar Gu's ability was to change the Gu Master's body constitution and raise their strength permanently.

Although the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle could grant a bull's strength, it could only last five breaths, uses too much energy to sustain and had strong after-effects.

The Black and White Boar's strength increment, although little at a time, would be accumulative over time and once obtained, the strength would belong to the Gu Master wholly. Even if the Gu dies, this strength will still remain on the Gu Master's body.

This is the reason why the Black and White Boar Gu's value is higher than the Liquor Worm.

The public recognises that the Liquor worm's value should be slightly inferior to the Black or White Boar Gu.

The Liquor worm can only refine primeval essence, and after an intense battle, a Gu Master's primeval essence is easily depleted. For the remainder of the battle, they can only rely on their martial arts and their physical strength. This is when the White and Black Gu show their worth; they are more reliable than the Liquor worm.

"If I can refine a Black Boar Gu or White Boar Gu, that would be good." Yami was just imagining the scenario, but with this type of Gu storage room which only has one Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle, how can there be White or Black Boar Gu which are so rare?

He walked another round and saw all the Gu worms the room had to offer. As expected, there was nothing that truly captivated him.

At last, he retrieved a Little Light Gu at a corner of the wall.

There were five Little Light Gu in the storage room.

This Gu was oddly shaped, looking like a pentagram, and only half as large as a fingernail.

The Little Light Gu was mainly paired with the Moonlight Gu, a common assistance-type Gu worm for the Moonlight Gu. To Yami had chosen this Gu, it was merely an average option, but at least it suited his development path.

"Yami is out."

"Geez, finally out after so long."

"I wonder what Gu he chose?"

"He already has the Liquor worm, this is his third Gu, maybe he won't be able to raise them properly. Hehe."

Yami leisurely walked out of the storage room. The students were outside for such a long time and had started to become restless.

"It's my turn! I wonder what Gu has Yami chosen?" Once Inuzuka Kiba saw Yami stepping out he hurriedly took big steps and entered the storage room.

He checked and found that the sole Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle was still there. Kiba could not refrain from becoming overjoyed, immediately taking it away.

Afterwards, Naruto went in.

"I have the Moonlight Gu for offense, but I lack a defensive-type Gu worm." Uzumaki Naruto after long consideration, decided to choose a Bronze Skin Gu.

Shino Aburame was the fourth to enter.

"I need an evasion ability, so in future battles I will be able to hit others, but others cannot hit me. I'll be virtually unbeatable." He looked left and right, and finally chose a Dragonpill cricket Gu.

The sun lowers and the moon rises, the signal of the arrival of nightfall.

This was one of the concealed courtyards in the Konoha village.

A locust tree that stood with complicated branches and luxuriant leaves, its robust and spacious treetop that was like a jasper imperial canopy, enveloped the entire courtyard.

The moonlight was gentle like water, travelling through the leaves and branches of the locust tree, spilling into the courtyard.

A gust of wind blew over, sending the tree leaves rustling, the shadows of the tree swaying slightly.

It was under this tree that two people stood.

Hiruzen Sarutobi used a gentle gaze and looked at Naruto. "Naruto, today you chose your second Gu, I wonder what it is?"

"Reporting to clan leader sir, today I chose a Bronze Skin Gu." Uzumaki Naruto stood rigid, saying with a look of admiration.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, and after pondering he replied, "Not bad, it is a good choice."

Uzumaki Naruto stood before Hiruzen Sarutobi, his body tensed and tightened. Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's praise, he did not know how to reply for a while, so in the end he only laughed, "Clan leader, I chose randomly."

"You think I'm not serious in praising you? No." Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at Naruto, a smile on his face, "Do you know? From choosing a Gu, it shows a person's disposition."

"You chose the Bronze Skin Gu for defense. Paired with the Moonlight Gu, it is both offense and defense. This shows your pure nature. In this world, offense and defense are like frontal and ambush, yin and yang, soft and hard, this is the king's path."

"Kiba chose the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle, this Gu grants stamina and allows him to sustain battle. This shows his stubborn and strong attitude."

"As for Shino Aburame, he chose the Dragonpill cricket Gu, allowing him to increase his dodging ability. This shows he does not like frontal attacks, being a witty person, good at tactics, but also showed the weakness in his character."

Uzumaki Naruto was stunned after listening, for he did not expect that such a simple matter could reveal that much information and logic.

Consequently, his attitude towards Hiruzen Sarutobi became even more respectful.

"Clan leader, what did my brother choose?" Naruto thought of Yami and immediately asked.

Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed, "He chose the Little Light Gu, this Gu is used to assist the Moonlight Gu and can make the moonblade attack stronger. This shows his extreme, active and invasive personality."

"Indeed, big brother seems to be like that." Naruto muttered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took Naruto's expression into consideration and etched it into his mind.

Those who were rulers had their unique ability. Although Hiruzen Sarutobi and Naruto did not interact for long, Hiruzen Sarutobi's experienced gaze had already seen through Naruto.

Him telling Naruto about Kiba and Shino's decisions had deeper meaning.

It was to help Naruto analyze these two people, for he anticipated him defeating the two of them and establishing the role of clan leader with his A grade talent.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi would not say it out loud, and would not instigate Naruto's actions.

As the clan leader, his every word and action had political implications. If he directly controlled Naruto and dealt with Shino and Kiba, if words spread it might be misunderstood as the clan leader's political assault. If that's the case, the implication would be huge and it might even cause a clan dispute, harming the entire village.

There was another point - Hiruzen Sarutobi was waiting for Naruto to understand his intentions. He spent time and effort to nurture Naruto, but it was not to nurture a Rank four or five fighter. A fighter without political knowledge was like a double edged sword. He needed the future leader for the clan!

"I analyzed Kiba and Shino's personality for Naruto, but he did not notice my intention, instead asking about Yami's situation. It seems that he has great trauma regarding Yami, but he is also at his rebellious stage. He wants to beat Yami, that's understandable. Sigh, if only Naruto had Yami's intelligence, I've seen many youngsters these years, but when it comes to political wits, Yami tops them all. It is a pity he only has C grade talent."]

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed internally but his smile got even more gentle.

He took out a Gu worm from his pocket.

"This is - Jade Skin Gu?" Naruto on seeing this Gu worm, said lightly with his eyes wide open.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Compared to the Bronze Skin Gu, this Jade Skin Gu is much better, not only using less primeval essence but also gives greater defense. Naruto, do you want it?"

"Clan leader!" Naruto was shocked and he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, stuttering, "I… of course I want it."

"I can give it to you." Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed even more amicably, "But as the clan leader, I have to be impartial and cannot give it to you for no reason, thus I have a condition."

Naruto nodded repeatedly, staring widely, "What condition?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile vanished, showing a stern expression, "I want you to be the first to breakthrough Rank one into Rank two, be the first place in terms of cultivation! And this Jade Skin Gu is your advancement reward."

"Ah, advance to Rank two?" Uzumaki Naruto hesitated for a moment. He had just become Rank one middle stage; after middle stage was upper stage, and after that there was still peak stage.

But now Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to him to be the first person to advance to Rank two.

"What's wrong, are you afraid? Then I can only give this Gu to others." Hiruzen Sarutobi pretended to keep the Jade Skin Gu.

Naruto was incited by this sentence, immediately his brain heated up as he shouted, "No, I promise you! I will defeat everyone and be the first Rank two cultivator!"

"That's the way." Hiruzen Sarutobi showed his gentle smile again, placing the Jade Skin Gu on Naruto's hand.

He thought in his heart, "Naruto, I know you feel inferior, but this inferiority complex is too harmful to your growth. The best way to dispel your inferiority is success. You have A grade talent, so advancing to Rank two first is your greatest advantage, and also the easiest success you can achieve. You must succeed, for if you fail even this, I would be too disappointed."

At the same time, Yami stepped into the secret cave behind the rock crack again, getting into the end of the tunnel.

This time, he did not bring any steel spade, pickaxe or hammer, but carefully observed the surroundings. He was discouraged by this setback the previous night, and on the way back to the village he felt something amiss.

Only today in the dormitory where he used the Spring Autumn Cicada to refine the Little Light Gu did he suddenly understand the weird part of this situation.

"This huge rock blocking my path is too round and smooth, this is definitely man made. That is to say, the Flower Wine Monk purposely set this to block to path, but why did he set this hurdle at such a place?" Yami pondered.

He looked at the surroundings again.

The ground of the path was smooth and the top was curved; the walls on both sides were red soil, emitting a red light.

"Eh?" When he looked at the ground again, he found a point of suspicion.

The ground near the giant rock was slightly darker in colour. This colour difference was not very obvious and not easily found under such a dimly lit environment.

Yami knelt down, touching the ground, feeling a sense of wetness.

No wonder the colour was darker, it was wet.

But this path was so dry, where was the water coming from?

Yami grinded the soil with his fingers, finding out that the soil on this patch of earth had issues. It was very soft and loose, not lumpy like the dry red soil.

Yami's gaze shone. Experience and intuition told him that this area had the 'key' that the Flower Wine Monk had hidden.

And this 'key' was the clue that would allow him to continue moving forward.

Yami began to dig the soil. It was loose so he did not spend much effort.

After digging for around an inch deeper, there was a peculiar fragrance rushing into Yami's nostrils.

"This fragrance is thick and luxurious yet not common, it seems delicate and elegant, could it be..." Yami's heart moved as he thought of a possibility, his hands moving even faster.

While digging, the area under the soil suddenly emitted a faint dark gold light.

"It really is what I'm thinking of!" Yami's eyes shone, his hand movement becoming more delicate, carefully digging the surrounding soil away, expanding this hole.

After a while, a dark gold-coloured flower bud that was buried under the ground appeared in front of him.

It was two inches deep in the ground, around the size of a stone mill, the bud's surface delicate and with the dark gold colour, it appeared to be mysterious and elegant.

"It really is the Earth Treasury Flower Gu!" Seeing this, Yami breathed out deeply.

He was not eager in peeling away the flower petals, but took a rest on the ground instead, wiping the soil off his hands. Then he slowly stretched his hand and pried open the dark gold-coloured petals.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu was like the combination of a lotus and kale. Its petals were tightly knitted together with numerous thick pieces, slippery when felt. As Yami opened the petals one by one, it was like revealing thick layers of silk.

Once it left the main body, the huge dark gold-coloured petals would disperse quickly. It was like snowflakes that melted into the air.

After uncovering around fifty to sixty pieces of petals, the bud had shrunk in half, revealing the flower core.

The core's petals were smaller and thinner, its texture becoming more smooth and fine. It was no longer like silk, but more like thin pieces of paper. .

Yami's movements became gentler and slower, only opening a piece of petal in a few breaths.

The petals became increasingly transparent, and after a while, when Yami had opened the pieces of thin paper-like petals, he stopped his movements.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu at this moment only had a last layer of petals left.

These petals overlapped each other, forming a fist-sized ball.

The petals were translucent, thin as paper. Inside these petals contained a golden liquid and in the middle of this liquid, a Gu worm was sleeping inside.

Yami looked intently, but he could only see a blurry shadow of the Gu worm, and he could not tell which Gu it was.

He was close to it, and his breath was blown on the flower core. The spherical flower core began to shake, the golden liquid also moving gently inside the petals.

Gu worms would die without food, and only a few Gu worms could seal themselves. To protect and conserve Gu worms, Gu Masters have had thought of many methods.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu was one of them.

It was a one-time use type Gu, and once implanted on the ground, it could not be moved.

Its food was simple, which was earth energy. As long as it was planted on the ground, it would be able to survive with sufficient earth energy.

It only had one use, and that is to contain a Gu within the flower heart and immerse the Gu in the golden liquid.

This golden nectar could to an extent, imitate the sealing state and let Gu worms fall into hibernation.

"The Flower Wine Monk planted this Earth Treasury Flower Gu, so the Gu within has to be for the inheritor." Yami stretched out a finger and peeled the remaining petals carefully, revealing an opening.

The golden liquid flowed out along his finger, feeling like soybean oil.

The flower core began to soften with the loss of the golden liquid. Yami moved his finger and the petals were split, allowing him to retrieve the slumbering Gu worm.

It was a cute ladybug. Only the size of the thumb's fingernail.

Its body was a milky white colour, and if overlooked from the back, it was like a circle.

Its head only occupied a small area, while the rest of the body was its large fat stomach and bright shiny exoskeleton.

Its six tiny limbs were also cream coloured, hidden under its stomach.

"White Boar Gu!" Yami showed an expression of joy on his face.

The temperature these few days had gotten higher.

The sun shone intensely in the afternoon, hanging right over everyone's head.

The caravan left and the inn's business fell again.

Yami stepped into the cafeteria, immediately attracting the attention of the shop assistants.

A familiar face rushed over and gave him a flattering smile. "Oh, young master, you're here! Please take a seat!"

"Give me a jar of wine and cut me 600g of beef, and serve a few side dishes." Yami strode through the cafeteria and approached the window seat that he always sat at.

The shop assistant showed a difficult expression, "Young master, my apologies but during the last time the caravan came, the innkeeper sold all of the green bamboo wine. We do not have this wine here anymore."

Yami nodded, not feeling surprised, "Then give me a jar of rice wine and tell the innkeeper, brew more green bamboo wine this year, I am pre-ordering a hundred jars. As for how much the advance payment will be, you can count first and report to me."

Now that the Liquor worm was exposed and did not gather any suspicion, Yami did not have to be restrained in buying wine anymore.

"Alright, I will definitely convey your words! Please be at ease young master." The shop assistant patted his chest, sounding confident.

Soon, the dishes were served.

Yami drank and ate while staring out of the window.

In such hot weather, especially during meal times, there were few people on the streets.

The sunlight shone on the ground and the green coloured bamboo tall-houses.

A few barefooted mortal farmers carrying cement, steel spades or shoulder poles walked in front. They had just finished their farm work, and were heading home.

Two children held the bamboo frame of their windmill toy and ran about. The one behind chased while crying and shouting; it seems that the boy in front had stolen his windmill toy.

At this moment, two young Gu Masters wearing green belts walked hurriedly on the street.

"Get lost, don't block the way!" A Gu Master pushed the farmer in front of him.

The farmers frantically gave way.

"Hmph." The two young Gu Masters walked through arrogantly.

Yami looked with a distracted gaze in his eyes, as part of his mind was already focused on his aperture.

Within the aperture, the water wall continued to flow as his green copper primeval sea rose with raging waves.

The Liquor worm was playing around in his primeval sea, at times comfortably rolling around, and at times curling into a ball.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was in deep slumber, hiding its appearance.

The round body of the White Boar Gu spread its wings and drew circles in the sky.

The White and Black Boar Gu were equally well-known, both being precious and rare Rank one Gu worms. Their market value was even greater than the Liquor worm.

Although they had the same usage and similar appearance, their future advancement routes were greatly different.

The Black Boar Gu and the Green Silk Gu would combine into the Rank two Black Mane Gu, and then into the Rank 3 Steel Mane Gu.

But the White Boar Gu was most compatible with the Jade Skin Gu, where it would turn into Rank two White Jade Gu, and later into the Rank three Heavenly Mugwort Gu.

The Steel Mane Gu could let the Gu Master's hair become tough as steel, raising both offense and defense. The Heavenly Mugwort Gu allowed the Gu Master's body to become tough as white jade while at the same time reducing the damage from attacks such as the moonblade.

Yami was slightly happy over this.

Getting the White Boar Gu was just one aspect of it, but what made him truly happy was the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance.

"The White Boar Gu can increase strength. The Flower Wine Monk set a giant rock to block the way, so it seems I need to refine this Gu and with enough strength, push the giant rock away and continue forward. This must be the first test."

"With the Flower Wine Monk's meticulous setup, I can infer that there has to be future inheritance trials, a second or third hurdle. Most importantly, I can confirm that he set this strength inheritance not as a trap, but with true sincerity."

"With this inheritance, I can reach Rank three faster and leave this Elemental Mountain, and venture outside, gaining greater opportunities!"

What does a Gu Master need most in cultivating?

The answer is but one word — Resources.

Yami needs to cultivate, thus he needs resources. But the clan's resources are limited, so if he wants more, he needs to fight for it.

Not only fighting for resources, he also has to be victorious.

To him, the more he fights and the more victories he obtained, the more he would reveal more of his trump cards and make others more wary.

Wariness when accumulated to an extent, would turn into suppression and hurdles blocking his path.

Yami killed a family servant, but why did the Inuzuka Family stay indifferent? Robbing the classmates, why did their family not pursue it? Yami resisted the clan and refused to be part of the system, but why did the clan leader choose to be lenient?

It is all because he is weak, because he is C grade.

They feel strong and do not feel like bullying the weak. Under the family's system, being petty with the weak Yami not only causes them to face humiliation, it also makes others feel that the person is cold and unfeeling, ruining one's social relationships.

Weakness was a safety umbrella that Yami had for now.

But with his continued competition for resources, Yami would appear stronger. This would make everyone start being wary of him, and begin to try recruiting him. No matter which side he chooses, he would face suppression and troubles from the other factions.

Suppression and restrictions would drag down his growing speed.

Yami was aware of his predicament, he was in a delicate position. He seemed to have offended everyone, but he had not violated any law in reality.

Yet with time, his cultivation level will rise, and conflicts will arise and worsen.

Yami knowns that this conflict would escalate, but the later it escalated, the greater benefit he would gain.

Thus, the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was perfectly timed!

With this strength inheritance, he would have hidden resources. Using this, he could be free of the system's control and walk his own path, cultivating at his own speed and secretly accumulate strength.

Once he was adopted into the system, he would need to side with a faction. Even if he did not want to compete, he would definitely be dragged into the political strife.

Inside the system, one is a pawn. You first have to be a proper pawn for others to use you willingly. After they trust and use you, you have the chance to climb upwards, and even during that process, you have to be careful not to become a discarded pawn.

Yami was clear of this procedure, he knew it too well. Even with his vast knowledge, there was nothing he could do to this situation. These were the rules!

The more crucial part was his C grade talent. To the clan, there was no desire in investing in him. Often he would be treated as a discarded pawn.

The most optimum progress route was to work alone. This way, he could avoid most competition. Towards the higher-ups in the village, the image he had created earlier would be sustained.

"This world's matters, it is always easily done secretly, but difficult to do openly. Using the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, I can cultivate and gather strength secretly without gaining attention and suppression. But the extortion has to continue, for if it stopped abruptly, it would invite suspicion, and I also need primeval stones." Yami considered his future plans.

He really needed primeval stones.

Other teenagers of his age had only started refining and feeding a second Gu worm. He however, had also refined the Little Light Gu and recently acquired the White Boar Gu, thus having a total of four Gu worms.

Previously, he needed around one primeval stone a day just to feed the Moonlight Gu and Liquor worm. Now after calculating, he needed more than two pieces everyday just as expenditure!

If including his cultivating needs and living expenditures, he would need to use around five primeval stones a day!

Five primeval stones was enough to feed a family of three mortals for five months.

On hand at the moment, he had several hundred primeval stones, but it was not enough to sustain such an expenditure in the long run.

More importantly, the further he got, the greater his expenditure would be. Especially after advancing to Rank two, every time he tried combining Gu worms, it would cost a huge sum.

Thinking of this, Yami felt troubled.

The matter of primeval stones was a problem, and by relying on just extortion and the resources on hand, he could only delay this problem from erupting.

Moreover, he had another problem, and that was the White Boar Gu's feeding.

The White Boar Gu's food was pork.

Boar, obviously referred to pigs. The Boar Gu series' food, was all pork.

Black and White Boar Gu had huge appetites. Every five days they would need to eat around one fully grown pig's amount of meat.

Pork in this world was not cheap, and mortals could only afford to slaughter one during the New Year celebration, and enjoy themselves. Without the large scale cultivation techniques of the Shinobi World, the price of pork and beef was not something mortals could eat often. At the same time the topography of the Elemental Mountain was precipitous, the area of residence narrow, how much space could be allocated just for rearing livestock?

You eat what you can procure at where you live, the villagers were able to eat pork occasionally because of the hunters hunting wild boars in the mountains.

"It seems that I have to go hunting myself from now on, for pork." Yami's eyes shone with a glint.

Relying on the village to purchase pork, first was the expenditure of primeval stones, second was that it would attract attention. Even if you loved eating pork, how could a person eat so much in such a short period?

If he hunted himself, it would not only resolve this problem, but also alleviate his current financial stress.

"Shop assistant, bill!" Thinking of this, Yami hesitated no more, and after footing the bill, he left the inn.

These few days the academy was on break so that the students could refine their second Gu worm. Yami decided that he could use this time well. He would leave the village and scout the mountains, and then kill some wild boars and get himself some pork.

The mountain forest was boundless, and Yami walked through patiently.

The sunlight permeated through the huge and tall woods, shining and creating a ground of mottled and fragmentary tree shadows.

The green grass beside his feet was like a mattress, and the wild flowers bloomed with bright colours.

His ears picked up the sound of birds chirping, or the trickling of flowing water.

The further he got from the village, walking towards the outer surroundings, the more risky it was. Thus Yami was even more careful.

The wilderness was very dangerous, Gu Masters had to have at least Rank three cultivation to be able to venture the wilds alone and explore. But this did not mean they were safe, as many Rank three Gu Masters died in the wild, sometimes even Rank fours. Wild beasts, poisonous worms, human threats, and at times the weather, these were all causes of death.

However, Yami wanted to kill the wild boars which were often found around the village's peripheral. Otherwise, the village hunters would not be able to catch wild boars.

"The environment around the village, every now and then, Gu Masters from the clan would come out and clear the area. This environment to a Rank one middle stage like me, is still safe. But I still have to be careful, wild beasts and Gu worms like to move around."

With his experience from his previous life, Yami scouted carefully.

Time gradually passed, but Yami gained nothing.

"Damn, Elemental Mountain is still too big for the current me. I have no scouting-type Gu and I am not familiar with this environment, plus Elemental Mountain is periodically cleared up, so to find a wild boar, it is too difficult. Let's go to the foot of the mountain!"

Yami's scouting was unfruitful, thus he changed his mind and went to the mountain foot.

Elemental Mountain has three mountain villages. Konoha village, Iwa family village, and Kiri family village. The Iwa family village was on the fore mountain, the Konoha mountain village was at the mountain waist, and Kiri family village was at the back mountain waterfall.

Other than the three villages, there was also tens of tiny villages at the mountain's base, all being inhabited by mortals.

The three mountain villages split these small villages among themselves, being the ones controlling them behind the scenes. Once they lacked family servants, they would pick from these small villages.

But they would not choose Gu Masters.

Nurturing a Gu Master, they would only choose a clansman. Even if they knew that among these mortals were people with talent, although rare, they would still not use them.

This world was heavily sided towards bloodline, and holding power among relatives was the political stability that the clan needed.

In order to expand in size, many mountain villages had adopted outsiders into their system. Eventually their power flowed out and caused internal conflicts, thus causing the entire clan to breakdown or weaken.

No matter the world, political power was still based off military force, this is the truth.

And troops are the brute force department, representing strength. By controlling strength, one gains status and authority.

Of course, the clan's rules are not ever constant, they also adopt new blood. Every year, there would be outsiders marrying into the clan, leaving their servant status, and the children they give birth to would be a new generation clansman.

This is like connecting a tiny stream into a spring. Do not underestimate this stream, as without it, a spring would be still, and eventually rot. With it, there would be life, and the spring would grow even stronger.

Yami's previous servant Sakura was betting on this idea of marrying a clansmen and leaving her servant status.

Yami left the mountain, and after thirty minutes, could see thick smoke rising from under the mountain.

After a while, he could see a wide hill in his vision, and a village around that area beside a small river.

The small villages around the vicinity were under the rule of the Konoha village. Although they were closeby, the small villages were not as safe, thus requiring regular clean up. For mortals to live in such conditions and manage to survive, to Yami, he naturally could accept such a fact.

"Oh?" On the mountain path nearing the village, Yami sensitively found traces on the ground. His past experience told him that this was a wild boar's traces.

"Chase!" Yami raised his spirits as he followed the clues, getting deeper into the mountains.

Green moss spread over the stones, ancient juniper trees and tall pagoda trees completing the great forest.

Under the strong light of the sun, the mountain woods of summer was even more profound and serene. The lush underbrush suddenly moved a little.

A few deer eating the sumptuous grass looked up, vigilantly staring at the bushes, their ears twitching.

The bushes that were half a man's height split apart, and a young man crawled out from within. His skin was pale and his black hair was short. He was wearing a modest linen shirt, it was Yami.

Swoosh.

A few wild deer were frightened, and their four thin limbs quickly moved, sprinting away. In a moment, they vanished from Yami's vision.

"These are female deer, their fur can be shaved to make warm clothing, and deer meat is also some Gu worm's food. If it's a male deer, the antlers are most precious, and some are even necessary ingredients for a Gu worm's advancement.

The wild was dangerous all over, and at the same time it had great treasures.

Yami looked at the direction that they were escaping in, and retracted his gaze. His target was wild boars, not these deer.

He continued moving.

There was the sound of buzzing.

Nearing these noises, Yami stopped in his tracks.

"Beehive." He looked forward and saw a beehive hanging on a tree.

The bee's nest was massive, the size was that of a wicker-basket. It appeared as a sort of greyish dark yellow colour. Outside the bee nest was a few dozen bee soldiers flying around; occasionally a few worker bees would enter and exit.

"Beehive has honey, and honey is the Bear Strength Gu's food. Thus, the Iwa family has great demand for honey. This beehive is only a small-sized one, and the chances of producing a Gu isn't high. If I had the Bronze Skin Gu, I could risk getting stabbed and collect the honey. What a pity." Yami thought.

In this world, not all insects are Gu.

Gu are the spirit of the world, the body of the laws, how can it be so cheap? Among a swarm of insects, normally only the insect king is a Gu.

But that depends on their size and development, so if the swarm is too small, there is no Gu either.

Taking the beehive ahead as an example, because it is too small, there is a low chance of having a Gu.

Yami routed around this beehive and continued forward.

The traces of the wild boar was getting more evident, and Yami knew he was getting close to it, thus he became more careful, as wild boars were very dangerous.

Wild boars are not reared pig. When a mature wild boar fights with a tiger, the tiger may not win.

In this mystical world, wild beasts are not simple too.

"Oh? This situation!" When Yami finally found the wild boar, he saw that it had fallen into a huge pit. A sharpened green bamboo was situated at the bottom of the pit, where it had pierced the wild boar and was causing it to bleed.

Seeing the accumulated blood in the pit, he could tell that the boar had already been in the trap for at least fifteen minutes.

But this wild boar continued to struggle, whimpering and howling, still full of life.

"This trap is obviously set by hunters. To think I'm reaping the rewards." Yami smiled but his expression was grim.

These traps threatened him too.

If he had fallen into it, after half a quarter of an hour, he would die.

Although the village surroundings were cleared regularly, the hunters often came to hunt and set many traps. Some could be discerned, while others were designed to be hidden, and if Yami could not discover them, he might fall into the trap.

"Any area in this mountain could have a trap buried by the hunters. But among hunters, with every trap set they would inform each other on the location. It seems I have to find an old hunter's residence and find out about the trap locations from him. Along with the surrounding wild beasts' activity area and with these intel, I would not have to search like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Yami thought internally.

This was the problem of not having a scouting-type of Gu worm.

But to find a good scouting-type Gu, it was not easy.

In a short time, he could barely make do with a hunter's intel.

With such a thought, Yami's wrist flicked and a moonblade flew out, easily hitting the wild boar.

Whoosh!

With a light ring, the entire moonblade cut through the boar's neck and caused a long and slender wound. Then with a plop sound, a blood fountain spewed out from it.

The spewing blood caused the wound to become bigger, and thus the blood fountain also enlarged.

The boar screeched, thrashing about with the last of its energy, until its movements became smaller and smaller…...

Yami silently looked at the scene, his face calm.

The wild boar's life faded as its eyes were staring wide and perfectly round, the muscles on its body twitching and the warm blood filling the trap hole, a thick smell of blood permeating the surrounding.

"Survival or death, this is the theme of nature." He sighed in his heart.

At this point, human voices were heard.

"Second brother Inari, within our village, no one is better than you at hunting. Especially killing wild boars, your family's Old Tazuna is the hunting king in the entire region, who would not know of his great name?"

"That's right, second brother Inari inherited the old hunter's abilities. To hunt a wild boar, it is naturally as good as caught!"

"Second brother Inari, why didn't little sister Tsunami come with you today?"

After all the bootlicking, a grave and stern voice said, "Hmph! Hunting a wild boar, how can it show my true abilities? Today I want to kill three boars, you'll see! Hishaku, stop lusting after my sister, or I'll thrash you!"

Hishaku retorted, "Men and women marry when they're of age, what's wrong with liking little sister Tsunami? Moreover, I'm not the only one, which guy in your village doesn't also fancy her too? Second brother Inari, in my opinion you are also nineteen already, you should marry a wife and have kids already."

The voice spoke again, "Hmph, I'm a true blue man, how can I lust after such a small temptation? One day, I will leave this Elemental Mountain and explore the world and learn about everything under the sky, that will truly be fitting of my manly status!"

Saying so, the four young hunters walked out of the forest.

The leader hunter had a tall build, carrying a bow and arrow, his muscles bulging and his eyes full of spirit, showing a powerful aura.

When he saw Yami, he frowned and screamed, "Hmm? Which village are you from kid, how dare you try to take advantage of me Inari, quickly get lost!"

"Get lost?" Hearing Inari's words, Yami immediately broke into a cold smirk and he brandished his palm in front of him.

Swoosh.

With a light sound, a blue coloured moonblade shot forward.

At the same time, he put strength into his leg and rushed towards the four hunters.

"Gu Master?!" The hunters were stunned and shouted upon seeing the moonblade.

The moonblade had already fired over, and they rushed to evade.

Plonk.

A person did not evade fast enough, and his right forearm was hit by the moonblade. Immediately his bones and flesh split, the entire wrist and his forearm cut through and fell on the ground.

"AHHHH!"

He laid on the ground, screaming in fear and pain. His left arm was like an eagle claw gripping his right arm. His right limb spewed bright red blood non stop, quickly dyeing the floor red.

"Spare me!"

"We did not offend you intentionally!"

The other two mortals on seeing their companion's state, went pale without a trace of blood in their face. They hurriedly got on all fours and kneeled down, kowtowing to Yami nonstop.

"Hmph, a bunch of fags, what are you afraid of? It's just a Gu disciple!" Only Inari was still standing. Yami attacked without warning, and this had made him frightened and angry. His arms went behind his back, and with a swift action, he grabbed hold of the bow and arrow in his arms.

"Stop, come further and I'll shoot you!" Inari retreated as he readied the arrow while screaming.

"Oh?" Yami narrowed his eyes. This Inari was rather intractable. Normally when mortals saw Gu Masters, they would be cowering in fear. Yet this man was able to remain calm, he must be rather bold.

Pew.

Another moonblade shot out towards Inari.

"Unappreciative bastard." Inari snorted and killing intent rose from his heart.

He took a side step and evaded the moonblade while shooting an arrow. The arrow was fast, and with a swoosh, it reached Yami.

Yami ducked, his head lowering slightly and evading the arrow as he continued rushing forward, quickly reaching Inari.

Inari bravely threw away the bow in his hand and clenched his bowl sized fist, rushing towards Yami.

He had a large build, his back strong like a wolf's and his waist like a bee's, and he was at least fifty centimetres taller than Yami. The sunlight shone from behind him, and as Yami rushed towards him, he could see a dark shadow hanging over his face, his eyes emitting killing intent like a wolf!

"No!"

"Stop quickly!"

The two hunters seeing that the two were going to collide into each other, frightfully shouted.

"Die!" Inari's eyes were fierce as the muscles on his face twitched, showing his sinister and insane expression, like a bloodthirsty evil wolf.

Both his fists flew towards Yami.

Boom.

His fist was fast and heavy, even cutting the wind!

Yami could see the fist getting bigger in his eyes, but his expression was unchanging as he took a side step.

Swoosh.

At the crucial moment, he avoided the fist and forcefully rotated his body, knocking Inari's left hand away.

Inari laughed sinisterly as he waved his fist horizontally, his fist striking first, about to reach Yami's back.

But at this moment, a bright flash of sunlight entered his iris.

His back was originally facing the sun, and now that he had turned around, the eye-piercing sunlight temporarily made his eyes hurt, and his vision went blank.

Yami smirked as he backflipped in the air, dodging Inari's fist, at the same time waving his right arm.

Pew!

The third moonblade flew along the sunlight trajectory.

Inari's senses tingled as he felt unprecedented danger. He turned his head around and the next moment, the eerie blue moonblade flew past.

"Be careful brother Inari!"

"Did he avoid it?"

The two kneeling on the ground forgot to beg for forgiveness at this moment, staring widely.

The piercing sunlight shone on their face.

At this moment, time seemed to slow down.

The surrounding sound vanished, and the world was silent.

The afternoon's blazing sun paved a white background, and on this backdrop, Inari's body became a black shadow. His body was in the air at an arc, his muscular body stretching in a crescent shape like an open bow, full of masculine appeal.

His head lowered as he tried to avoid the moonblade.

The moonblade flew like a snail in the air, its eerie blue light almost invisible under the sun's rays.

The white background, the black shadow, and the blue moonblade — these three formed a brilliant stage for a moment full of life and death.

The moonblade flew over.

The shadow that represented Inari landed smoothly as it flowed with the trajectory.

He was safe and sound.

"Phew!" Seeing this, a young hunter breathed out a sigh of relief.

"He avoided it!" Another hunter was cheering internally.

But at this time!

A small piece of the shadow's head flew out along with red fluids, separating from the shadow and spewing everywhere.

The blue moonblade gradually dissipated in the air.

That black shadow was like a broken bow, as the energy accumulated within it disappeared at once. It turned into a beautiful but sad fallen leaf, silently landing on the ground.

The two hunter's irises shrunk into pin size.

Their mouths were agape, stretching to their bodily limits.

Splat.

The bright red fluid landed on their faces.

The two touched their faces —

Blood!

They jolted awake!

In their perception, time had returned to normal, and noise returned.

There were birds chirping, water flowing and their companion screaming while grabbing his broken arms.

"Second brother Inari...?" A hunter called, his voice full of horror. All this time, Inari was their leader.

"He's dead!" Another hunter cried out, his face grim to the limit.

"Brother Inari is our strongest hunter. A while ago he was still talking with us, but to think the next moment he's dead!"

"He should not have angered that Gu Master, we mortals are no match for Gu Masters!"

The two hunters were frightened and shocked, at once they were like statues kneeling on the ground.

Yami got up from the ground.

Earlier, to avoid Inari's fist, he rotated his body in the air and lost his balance. After shooting the moonblade, he fell to the ground. But this fall was worth it, as Inari's fist would've caused him to vomit blood on the spot. After all, Yami had no defensive Gu, and his body was only a fifteen year old.

Now, he stood up, other than his shoulders hurting, he had practically no injuries.

"This Inari is very strong, much stronger than that Inuzuka Family servant Akamaru! If any other student encountered him, they would lose without doubt. Even a Rank one upper stage Gu Master would lose to him out of carelessness." Yami stared at the corpse of Inari deeply.

Gu Masters were still threatened by genius mortal martial artists when they are at Rank one stage.

This Inari was truly skilled.

His archery skill was fast and stable, just relying on this it could match moonblade. In fact, the moonblade might even be inferior, as the arrow has a larger range. His fighting skill has reached the peak of mortals — a strong body with tough bones, and he was also ruthless. With Yami's small body, it could not go head to head with him.

Thus, any other student would lose undoubtedly. Unfortunately for Inari, he met Yami.

Once he appeared, Yami noticed his bow and deduced that he could not fight long range with him.

The moonblade only had a range of ten meters. The bow had far greater range than the moonblade.

Thus, Yami ditched long combat. He quickly got closer and closed the gap between them, showing a physical fighting stance.

Inari had no choice but to discard his bow and fight physically with Yami.

But Yami did not really think of going close combat with Inari. He used the angle of the sun's rays and caused a weakness in Inari, before shooting out his third moonblade.

He was already middle stage now, and with the Liquor worm's refinement, the moonblade had the attack power of an upper stage Gu Master. At such a close range, with Inari's weakened vision, his defeat was guaranteed.

"But this Inari is indeed skillful. I wanted to decapitate him, but at the crucial moment, he relied on his senses and reflexes and evaded half of my attack, causing my moonblade to cut off only half of his head."

"Life and death is nature's law. All living beings are equal, and everyone has their right to survive and be killed. There might be royalty and lower beings, but in face of death, a person's death is no different from a pig's, what's the difference? They're both dead."

Yami took a final look at Inari's corpse and sighed in his heart.

The tree roots penetrate into the mountain soil, letting their green hands reach up towards the sky. Thick and solid tree trunks faced each other, looking similar through the distances. The exuberant branches and leaves intertwined in mid-air.

Under the surroundings of these trees was a wooden house.

The wooden house was made entirely from the solid thick barks, leaking out a type of genuine firm smell. The wooden house was not a newly built one, but it had gathered many years. Thus the house surface had green moss growing all over, and some of the tree trunks had begun to sprout out tender little branches.

Around the wooden house was a tall and great fence constructed from green spear bamboo. The back and front area was all vegetable fields, and in the middle of the fields was a man-made well.

At this time, a young and beautiful lady was drawing water from the well.

While she wore simple and plain clothing, this was still hard to mask her complexion. She was sixteen years of age, and she had a big pair of black eyes, the black and whites of her eyes clearly defined, and pure like crystals.

The sunlight penetrated through the overlapping and luxuriant tree leaves, shining onto her face, letting her skin reflect light like it was white snow, also showing a sort of transparent red flush and gentleness on her.

Her black hair hung down unruly and half-covered her cute earlobes.

The pink lips were pursed at the moment, and she was clenching her set of white perfect teeth, her face showing an expression of full concentration.

She used all her strength to pull the bucket full of water out of the well. With another breath, she moved the bucket to the ground outside the well.

"Huff!" The young girl wiped her forehead and breathed out, using her pale hand to fan her own face.

Hearing the bucket hitting the ground, the wooden house's door opened, and an old man came out.

The old man's hair was a mix of black and white, his face having layers of wrinkles. Although his eyes looked tired, they showed a hint of brilliance sometimes. Like an elderly tiger, although old, the tiger's authority was still evident.

"Lass, this bucket is too heavy, I said let me carry it. Why are you secretly watering the plants behind my back again?" The elderly looked at the young girl and showed an expression of doting affection.

"Father!" The young girl sweetly called, "You were hunting until late at night yesterday, I wanted you to sleep in later today. It's just a water bucket, look, I can carry it out, right?"

"You, always loving to act tough!" The old man's voice was full of helplessness, but his eyes were once again doting on her.

He took a large step and got to the well, stretching out his hand and easily grabbing the bucket, "Come, lass, let's water the plants together."

The air was full of the smell of wild grass and flowers, and the summer's wind blew warmly and passed by the trees, turning into a gust of refreshing wind.

The wooden house on the mountain had a vegetable field, and the girl used the pail, lowering her back to water the plants. The father was in charge of getting the water, rotating between two water buckets. The atmosphere of a loving family was evident in this tiny space.

"Sigh, I am too old, just a few buckets and I am already exhausted." After a while, the old man stood by the well, wiping the sweat off his forehead and sighing deeply.

The young girl turned her head back, smiling like flowers, saying, "Father, you finally realized it. You're already so old, yet you want to act tough all the time. How many times have I told you, let second brother do the hunting, you should be resting at home enjoying your life at this age."

"Hehehe," the old man laughed, nodding, "Relying on your second brother's abilities, he can roam this mountain easily. With his archery skills, it even surpasses me in my youth. But I still cannot feel at ease, his heart is too wild, and with just martial art skills he wants to soar. Sigh, young men love to imagine freely, they all have this problem."

"Father….." The young girl dragged her words.

The old man laughed even more heartily now, his tone carrying a mischievous hint, "Oh yeah, there's still you. You're not young anymore, it's time to get married. I have found a good partner for you, and with your good looks, there's no problems with finding a good family."

The girl's face grew red like a tomato. Immediately she felt too embarrassed until she was lost for words.

The old man looked at the sky, imagining the great future as he sighed, "Once your second brother suffers some setbacks and curbs his nature, I will retire and never go into the mountains. Next I will find you a good family and watch you marry and have children, preferably a chubby boy. Heh heh, your father wants to take care of his grandson, that's all I want. A person's life is not easy, and as a hunter, how many can have a good ending? Sigh, all my partners and comrades from back then are already gone, I am all that's left."

"Father, you are wrong." The young girl consoled, "What do you mean there's only you left? You still have us."

"Hehe, hmm?" The old man was laughing and was about to reply, but he suddenly heard a sound and turned his head.

The little entrance of the bamboo fence was broken from the outside by someone.

"You are old Tazuna?" Yami's cold expression with his eerie eyes, stepped forward with a lump of moonlight in his right arm.

The old man was shocked as he looked at the moonlight on Yami's hand, rapidly kneeling, "This old man pays his respects to Lord Gu Master!"

"old Tazuna, your son dared to offend me, I have executed him. Bring his corpse forward!" Yami stood proudly, staring at the kneeling old man as he brought out the main topic.

His words had just finished, and two young hunters carried Inari's corpse in.

Seeing this corpse, old Tazuna's body shook!

"Second brother —!" The young girl screamed pitifully, rushing forward and grabbing Inari's corpse, her face flushed with tears.

"Tsunami…" The two young hunters, seeing the girl they liked crying in front of them, felt terrible. They wanted to console her, but no words came out.

"old Tazuna, I heard you're a hunter, the best among the few villages. At such an old age, you can still hunt and get a good result every time, this is great."

Yami paused here for a moment, and continued expressionlessly, "Draw me a map of all the traps of the nearby mountain area now, as well as the results of your observation of wild beast territories from your hunting experience all these years. Draw it for me and I will spare your son's sin of offending me, if not… hmph."

These villages were under Konoha village's control. The villagers were all farmer slaves of the Konoha Clan.

With Inari's offense for offending his master, according to the clan rules, their entire family would be implicated!

old Tazuna's body shook again, almost falling to the ground. An impact like this was too sudden and great to him.

"Murderer, you are the murderer that harmed my brother! You treat human lives like livestock, and you dare to confront us? I will exact revenge for my brother!" The young girl screamed, her voice full of hatred and anger towards Yami, and she rushed towards Yami.

But she was only halfway there when she got stopped by someone.

It was not the two young hunters, but her father.

"Disgraceful wretch!" old Tazuna screamed as he gave the young girl a tight slap, sending her to the ground.

"Your second brother is dead, do you want to die too? Do you want this old father of yours to be old and alone forever?!" The old man cried profusely saying this, his body trembling furiously.

"Father!" The young girl was awakened by this, and her tears poured out. Her voice was full of sadness, unjust, pity, hatred, and helplessness.

The old man turned his body, facing Yami as he kneeled down and placed his forehead on the ground, prostrating deeply at Yami's feet. His voice shook as he said, "Lord Gu Master, my son offended you and deserved to die! I shall draw the map for you now, please spare us with your magnanimity."

Yami's expression turned milder, he looked at the old man arrogantly, saying, "Be at ease, as long as you draw honestly, I will spare you. But don't think of lying to me, for if I find any suspicious points, your lives will be forfeited!"

"I understand, this old man understands." old Tazuna kowtowed non-stop, "Please Lord Gu Master, allow me to retrieve my brush and paper."

"No need." Yami waved his hand, looking at the two hunters he had forced along, ordering, "Enter the room and find paper and brush, and bring them out."

"Yes, Lord Gu Master." The two youngsters did not dare to rebel under Yami's authority.

"Lord, the paper and brush are on the square table in the kitchen." old Tazuna said.

Yami's eyes shone but he remained silent.

The two hunters barged into the house and quickly brought out the paper and brush.

In the southern territory, the paper were specially made of bamboo, where the quality was bad and the paper was tough with green overlays. Paper like this was suited to the moist weather of the southern territorial weather.

If it was rice paper, it might be destroyed after a week due to moisture.

The old man carried the brush and kneeled on the ground, drawing out black lines, curves or dots.

He used over ten bamboo papers, before handing them all to Yami.

Yami looked through them and split these bamboo papers into two, handing them to the two hunters, "Take a look if there's any inappropriate areas. Every mistake, I'll give you one primeval stone!"

The two hunters took the bamboo papers, their hands trembling, eyes shining.

"This is Tazuna's life experience and effort. Us hunters, although we keep in contact, it is all about trap placement, we will not tell others about the wild beast distribution. This bamboo paper, it is all the information that Tazuna had gathered since his ancestors."

"So this valley has a herd of wild deer, haha, after I hunt these wild deer, I won't have to worry about expenses for the next three months! Ah, this stream has a cave of mountain bears? How close, I almost hunted at this region last time, note it, I must note it all down!"

These were precious information, it could be said to be a hunter's rice bowl!

Normally not within a generation but all the way from their forefathers, these experiences and information were obtained at the expense of their blood and lives.

But old Tazuna's family had always hunted for a living. When it got to old Tazuna, he had reached the peak of his family line, the acclaimed number one hunter.

Information in the hands of such a person, is the most useful and truthful.

The two young hunters checked for nearly fifteen minutes, glossing through the map multiple times. Only after Yami rushed them did they finally hand over the bamboo paper reluctantly.

During this period, old Tazuna was kneeling on the ground, his forehead touching the ground as he expressed his respect. The young girl was lying on the ground, as if she had gone lifeless.

"There is no problem, lord."

"The trap areas in these bamboo papers are all accurate."

The two answered.

"Lord Gu Master, this concerns me and my daughter's life, I would definitely not lie to you!" The old man on the ground shouted as he continued to kowtow.

"Mmm, not bad." Yami waved the stack of bamboo paper, yet suddenly his words changed, "But, I don't believe it."

old Tazuna jolted, raising his head, but only saw an eerie blue moonblade enlarging within the reflection of his iris.

Pew.

A skull flew into the air, fresh blood spewing all over.

"Argh!"

"Lord, this—!"

The two young hunters were taken by surprise. Shock and disbelief showed on their faces.

"Father—!" The young girl cried out profusely as she leapt towards old Tazuna's headless corpse, but midway, a moonblade flew towards her face.

Splat.

She fell onto the ground, lifeless.

Her beautiful face, from her forehead to her chin, slowly showed a thin red line.

The line became thicker as fresh red blood oozed out, flowing down along half of her nose and half of her lips. They flowed onto the black soil, dyeing half of her face bright red.

The other half of her face though, was still as beautiful, the skin fair and rosy. Under the bright blue sky, it seemed even more lustrous, like a work of art.

"At least she looks decent." Yami looked at the dead girl blandly, nodding satisfactorily.

Using Rank one middle stage primeval essence, the moonblade could slice Gu. Now that he was using upper stage primeval essence, it could break bones and even cut steel!

"Tsunami!" A young hunter fell onto the ground in despair after seeing her demise with his own eyes.

"Lord Gu Master, spare us!" The other hunter feeling Yami's faze, nearly died of shock as he plopped on the ground.

"Get up, go inside and search!' Yami ordered, "I know that a hunter's family always keeps a beast skin map. On top of it is the terrain, trap locations and the beast territories. Find it for me, and I'll let you keep your lives."

"Yes, yes, yes, we will search immediately. Give us some time, Lord Gu Master!" The two frantically got up and ran into the wooden house.

Sounds of wardrobes overturning and falling could be heard from the wooden house.

But a moment later, even though the hunters ransacked the house, there was no beast skin map to be found.

"Lord, please give me some time, we will find it right now!" The two hunters were terrified as they got more desperate and searched boorishly, smashing many furniture in the process.

"Fuck, where is it?"

"Appear, please appear!"

They muttered as their bodies shivered, their eyes getting bloodshot.

"Useless trash." Yami slowly walked into the house.

"Lord! Lord! Forgive us, please…wahh..." The two young hunters shivered like they were electrified and fell to the ground, begging for their lives.

Yami ignored the two and observed the house.

There were four rooms in the house, a living room and a kitchen. All the furniture were in a mess, like they were ransacked.

Yami slowly stepped in, his steps producing echoes in the wooden house.

"It has indeed been searched, that shouldn't be right. Almost every hunter has a beast skin map inherited throughout the generations, getting refined along the way, recording all the beasts territory and pitfalls. This is the livelihood of a hunter, how can they not have it?"

Yami stood pondering, "Moreover, I tested that old Tazuna earlier, purposely getting the two hunters to search for paper and brush. The old man immediately called out the location of the paper and brush, probably worried that they might find the beast skin map, thus it has to be in this house!"

Yami observed the house again, and suddenly his inspiration struck as he looked at the firepit.

This firepit was connected to the chimney, used in winter to gain warmth. There was even some residue charcoal in the firepit.

Yami walked to the firepit, slowly squatting down and taking a shovel beside the firepit, digging out the charcoal.

Most of the charcoal still has their wooden shape, they were brittle and easily broken into two.

"Oh?" Yami inspected, suddenly finding a charcoal block that had a very tough material and was very heavy, not light like the other charcoal blocks.

He used the shovel to dig out this charcoal block, smashing it on the ground. The charcoal smashed into bits, revealing a bamboo tube.

The two hunters gasped at this scene.

Yami took the bamboo tube and opened it on one side, shaking it, causing a map to fall out.

The map was heavier than the stack of bamboo paper, made with a piece of white beast skin. The beast skin was huge, over a meters long and half a meter in breadth. There was black, green, red, yellow and blue lines on it, forming a complicated map.

Yami was slightly taken aback looking at it.

The map's range was very big, extending far beyond the village's vicinity. As a mortal, it was not easy to map out areas so far away.

His gaze focused on five spots, those with wild boar herds.

Two were small sized, two were medium sized, and there was a large sized boar herd. In the middle of the large sized herd, there was a giant red cross.

Seeing this cross, Yami snickered. On his bamboo paper, there was no such marking!

The two young hunters had also seen the bamboo paper, and found no problems. This was their own inexperience, only certain of some areas. This red cross was far beyond the village, and from this, old Tazuna's cunningness could be seen.

This was why Yami killed them.

To hunt for wild boars, he needed such a beast skin map. But he was not convinced by a map drawn by others. Only getting a "real" map like this, could it be dependable.

Yami had heard of all sorts of remarks in his past life. Just a word "scram", was not enough reason for him to kill Inari.

When hearing the four hunters' conversation beside the boar trap, Yami had already planned his murder.

Killing Inari reduced his opposition, and gave him reason to obtain the map. Why wouldn't he kill him?

Yami would not kill for the sake of killing, killing is only a method. Using this method, if it can solve the problem, then why not?

The old man definitely had to die, even if he can endure the murder of his son, Yami would not be at ease. Otherwise, it would be a case of "When cutting down weeds, you must get at the roots. Otherwise, the weeds will return with the spring breeze."

What, you said killing the innocent?

Hehe, no matter which world, as long as one lives in this world, they would be intertwined in karma, how can anyone be innocent? Humans slaughter pigs, aren't the pigs innocent?

Big fish eats small fish, and small fish eats shrimps, in nature there is only the food chain, there is no innocence.

In this world, anybody can live, anybody can die, but nobody is innocent!

The beast skin map was very thick, it was unlike paper that could be folded and carried around easily. Yami could only roll the beast skin up and put it back into the bamboo tube, where he then tied up both ends of the bamboo tube with hemp rope, and carried it on his back.

The two hunters stared firmly at the bamboo case, their eyes unavoidably showing signs of greed. They were not idiots after all — they knew the value of the map.

This beast skin map is something that Gu Masters would not even bother looking at, but to mortals, especially hunters like them, it was the most valuable treasure.

Tazuna's family had began to pass down this map since the time of their ancestors. old Tazuna was able to become a famous hunter, his name known throughout the vicinity and beyond; the map had much contribution to this. It was truly an authentic family heirloom.

"I'm going to ask you — in old Tazuna's household, is there anyone else?" Yami's gaze was dark, his tone cold as he asked.

The two young men kneeling on the ground shuddered immediately when they heard this question from Yami. They thought about what had just conspired earlier, and the greedy expressions from their faces disappeared in an instant, replaced with fear and terror.

"There is no one else, the entire family is dead, lord Gu Master!"

"Tazuna originally had a wife, but that was decades ago, and she was killed by wild wolves that intruded the village. Before his wife died she gave birth to two sons and a daughter. But the oldest son Kaiza died on the mountain while hunting three years ago. There is no one else in the Tazuna's family."

This was the immediate reply from the two young hunters.

"Is that so…" Yami narrowed his two eyes and he looked at the two men kneeling before him, knowing that they were telling the truth. When one's life and death was in the hands of others, the probability of lying was very small.

But he asked anyway, "Did you lie to me?"

"We would not dare to lie even the slightest, lord!"

"I-I thought of something! old Tazuna actually also has a daughter-in-law, Kaiza's old wife. But after Kaiza disappeared, his wife died due to a broken heart. That year, the village even specially sent down a chastity memorial arch! But rumour has it that Kaiza's wife wanted to remarry, and she was actually hounded to death by old Tazuna. When you killed old Tazuna, lord, you are helping us citizens, rooting out the evil and bringing people peace!"

The other hunter quickly added, "That's right, that's right. Actually lord, we have long found this old Tazuna unfavourable. Hmph, he's nothing special, just that he can hunt better than us. We're all just mortals, yet he thinks he's more special than us and purposely moved out of the village to live here. As the younger generation, we sometimes will ask him to teach us and impart his experiences, but he would just outright chase us away and never allow us to show up again near the wooden house!"

Yami listened quietly while nodding. Although these two started belittling old Tazuna in an attempt to keep their lives, he did not sense any resentment from these two men's mouths.

Yami guessed inwardly that these two men asking to consult for hunting matters should be fake, he surmised that they were just over to covet Tazuna's daughter and her good looks. Yet in the end they were found out by old Tazuna and disciplined a few times harshly.

"Weeding out the wicked and let the law-abiding citizens live in peace. Enough of such bootlicking, this time I killed them because my motive was just for this beast skin map. Well, both of you have showed a satisfying behaviour, you can both go now." Yami's tone softened, but at the same time the right hand behind his back shone with gloomy moonlight.

The two young men kneeling on the ground felt surprise and joy once they heard this.

"Thank you so much for your mercy, lord!"

"Lord, your generosity and indulgence, we shall remember in heart forever!"

They kowtowed on the ground, their mucus and tears overflowing, sounds of dull knocking could be heard. After several knocks they immediately got up and turned to leave.

Although Yami was younger than them in age, but after witnessing firsthand what Yami was like in doing things, they were beyond fearful and terrified, wishing never to meet Yami again.

"Hold it." Just at this moment, a voice suddenly travelled over.

The moment it finished there was a swoosh and a Gu Master jumped down from a treetop.

"You both cannot leave, tell me what happened here. All of it." This Gu Master that just jumped down was wearing a deep blue uniform, and there was a scarlet belt with a metal plate in the middle. There was a huge 'Two' word carved onto the metal plate.

This Rank two Gu Master had a slim build, his two eyes slender. He wore arm protectors on his wrists, and his calves had sturdy leg bindings, his entire being radiating with a highly capable aura.

"This commoner greets lord Jibei!" The two young men had just got up with the intention to leave, but once they saw this Gu Master they instantly knelt down again, prostrating themselves in admiration while greeting.

This Gu Master was someone they knew — it was the Gu Master stationed at the village.

Every year to reinforce their control in their surroundings, the Konoha village would dispatch Gu Master down into the little villages and hamlets, stationing Gu Masters there. This would also prevent the other powers from infiltrating and at the same time strengthen their defences on their borders.

This Gu Master named Jibei did not bother with the two hunters kneeling on the ground, instead looking straight at Yami, asking in a cold tone, "I am the Gu Master Jibei of the Konoha Clan who has been stationed here, you are?"

Yami laughed lightly and stretched his right palm out, where the Moonlight Gu was giving out a ball of moonlight in the middle of his palm.

When the Gu Master Jibei saw the moonlight in Yami's hand, his gaze softened considerably — the Moonlight Gu was the sign of the Konoha Clan, this was something that could not be forged.

"This matter is simple actually. old Tazuna's second son offended me, so I killed the entire family off in anger. Those two can be my witness." Yami straightforwardly admitted with a bold and confident manner, pointing at the two hunters kneeling down at the same time.

Yami was not lying, and these two hunters nodded in haste; there was no hesitation.

Jibei stared blankly for a moment before he started laughing loudly, "You killed well! Just a bunch of measly peasant servants, to actually dare to offend their masters, they deserved to be killed!"

But he quickly added with a change in tone, full of emotion and deep meaning, "However young junior, what you've done has also brought problems to me. Although old Tazuna resides far away from the masses and stayed here alone with his family, they are still villagers that I am in charge of. I was sent out from the clan and stationed here in this village, this means I'm supposed to protect the villagers and be on the alert as defence. Now that you've killed these few people, the number of villagers will have lessened. During the examination at the end of the year the clan's assessment towards me will drop."

Yami's gaze shone, and he instantly knew that this Jibei was using this as a pretext to extort money from him.

He laughed and said out, "This isn't so difficult. Senior you just have to report the truth back. Just say that this entire family was killed by me, and it has nothing to do with senior whatsoever."

When Jibei heard this his eyelids twitched, anger rising in his heart towards Yami who did not know how to appreciate favors. His manner of speaking became extremely solemn, "Then I will have to conduct business impartially here. Junior, if you are not afraid of the clan's investigation then report your name, I will record it in detail as how things really are on paper."

His words brought a strong implication of threat; if it was any other youngster they would have been frightened by this statement already.

But Yami could see Jibei's weakness from it, and he instantly said, "Then senior shall report as how it should be. Ah right, my surname is Uzumaki, and my name is Yami."

"So you're actually Yami!" Jibei's face evidently showed astonishment for a while, "I have been hearing about you all the time from my little brother recently. You thoroughly beat up all your classmates, extorting in front of everyone, getting sixty pieces of primeval stones each time. Every time my little brother speaks of it he's always jealous of how you can earn money so easily. Not to mention that time when you gambled out a Liquor worm and a Mudskin Toad consecutively. This sort of luck sure makes people jealous. Oh right, my little brother is Jiro, you both should have met each other long ago."

"So it's him." Yami nodded and admitted, "Yes, every time when I buy Moon orchid petals, I would buy them in Jiro's shop."

"Hahaha, since this it the case then we both are acquaintances. Oh well let's forget about it, this matter I'll handle it!" When he said this, Jibei clapped his chest with his hands, putting out the appearance of one with the spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice.

He was merely using this favourable circumstance, there was no way he could have really reported the matter.

After reporting of such a thing the clan's assessment towards him would still drop either way. You might as well just do a good turn to Yami, as for old Tazuna's family's death, he could just report that they were invaded and attacked by a wild beast.

It's old Tazuna's fault for his unconventional ways of insisting to move out of the village, building a wooden house far away from the population!

Jibei was not afraid of the matter being disclosed, there was just a few mortal peasants around. Their lives were cheap ass grass, who cares if they died? Even if the clan found out about the cover-up they would hardly care about such a small matter.

"But junior, you have yet to graduate from the academy and do not have the Gu Master uniform like I am wearing now. If that Inari saw this outfit he'd know about your status as Gu Master and wouldn't offend you. Junior you are a smart person, don't you think so, hehe," said Jibei again.

Yami's eyes flashed. Jibei's words had implicit meaning, and was actually warning himself — do not run out of the academy and wander around for no reason, and you better not come to the area under my jurisdiction here after today to cause trouble and kill people again.

"In that case thank you very much for your advice, senior." Yami cupped his fists in greeting, bidding farewell to Jibei, immediately taking his leave from here.


	13. Fuck Honor, Reputation and Face!

**Fuck Honor, Reputation and Face!**

In the black of the night, the moon is shaped like a silver plate, hanging high in the sky spewing its watery moonlight down.

The dense woods lightly unfold their dense green leaves and branches in the summer wind. The waterfalls crash down as they flow, but the sounds are unable to cover the noises of the sandalwood crickets chirping about.

Yami stepped onto the green grass, quietly approaching a mountain boar.

This mountain boar had its head buried, puffing and snorting as it digged the emerald earth with its snout, rummaging among the soil and grass to look for worms.

The wild boar was an omnivorous animal. It not only ate worms, but also stole bird eggs and was adept at hunting wild rabbits, mice, even venomous creatures such as snakes and scorpions.

Yami crept slowly from behind the boar.

Under the bright moonlight, the greyish black fur coat of the wild pig could be seen clearly. Its body was strong and firm, the four limbs short and rough. On its back was a long and stiff mane, while atop its ears were sparse fur that was erect like needles. With all four limbs on the ground, each foot had four toes but only the two middle ones were digging against the soil. Its fail was thin and short, sometimes flinging about, chasing away the mosquitoes flying around.

Suddenly it stopped digging for its meal, rearing its head up. At the same time the boar's sharp little upright ears quickly trembled a few times. Although Yami had managed to stop his tracks in time, this mountain boar still found him. It immediately turned around and groaned out with warning sounds.

Yami was not surprised by this. A wild animal was not like a domestic one, they were all very alert. Especially the wild boar, they had acute smell and could find bird nests that were often hidden very well.

Even if this mountain boar did not hear any noises, when Yami neared around a hundred meters away from it, it would be able to smell the his body odour and will still be able to sense Yami's presence.

Although Yami had five Gu worms on him at the moment — the Spring Autumn Cicada, Liquor worm, Moonlight Gu, Little Light Gu and the white boar Gu, these Gu were all not able to match each other, and were incompatible.

If Yami had a Smell Lock Gu that could cover up his body odour, and another Quiet Steps Gu that concealed the noise of one's footsteps, he could completely and silently reach up to a distance of ten steps away from the mountain pig.

However if he had these two Gu then Yami would have been keeping seven Gu worms, this would cause his primeval essence usage to be too great and he would have difficulty supporting them.

Gu Masters in general can only feed four to five Gu worms of the same rank. Thus Gu Masters usually do not move alone, but instead form small groups of five, or at the very least with three.

Among the groups, there would be someone specially in charge of detection, one responsible for advancement, one bearing the offence role, another responsible for medical treatment and someone in charge of resisting and holding back hostiles.

Yami continued without stop, getting closer to the wild boar.

The wild boar screeched lowly, the white fur on its neck standing, the symbol of its agitation.

Finally when Yami was near enough, closer than the wild boar's acceptable range, the wild boar's hoofs dug the ground three times before spreading its muscular four limbs, lowered its head and dashed towards Yami.

Its upper jaw was withdrawn, its lower jaw turning upwards, forming two white tusks. Under the moonlight, the tusks shone with light as it stabbed towards Yami.

Yami had no defensive type of Gu worm, and if he was pierced by the tusk, his stomach would be penetrated, his intestines would be punctured and he would be heavily injured if not dead.

"Moonlight Gu." Yami's face was calm as he thought in his mind, causing the Moonlight Gu in his palm to absorb his primeval essence and emit an eerie moonlight glow, interweaving with the moonlight from the night sky.

The wild boar charged towards Yami as his right palm swiped across the air.

With a swoosh, the moonblade flew out and hit the wild boar in the face, causing blood to splatter all over.

The wild boar cried out loudly, turning its anger into fuel as its charge became even faster, and in the blink of an eye, it reached a few steps before Yami.

Yami nimbly jumped to the side, rolling and breaking his fall.

The wild boar charged right past Yami, and with a boom, crashed into a tree behind him.

The tiny tree was only as thick as a human arm, after getting knocked by the wild boar, it received devastating damage as the tree trunk tore open and split into two.

Yami stood up, quickly getting close to the wild boar while a moonblade shot out from his right hand at the same time.

The eerily blue moonblade drew a straight line across the air as it landed on the wild boar.

The wild boar's black fur had several thin cuts on it. The injury was very deep and bright red blood oozed out from it.

The moonblade Yami activated used up upper stage primeval essence, thus it was able to break even a human's toughest bones in one shot. But on the boar, it could only cause such superficial injury, and not damage the bones.

A small wild boar like this was so strong, this showed how cruel the living environment was in this world!

The wild boar growled, and charged towards Yami again.

In the process of sprinting, its blood-dripping wound continued to tear open, and its warm blood poured out like water.

Yami used the same trick, taking a tumble sideways and dodged its charge.

The wild boar, although strong and very ferocious, had one weakness — it could not change directions easily. Its speed was fast, but that meant it could not alter directions easily, so this way, every one of its charges is in a straight line. As long as a Gu Master is attentive enough, it is not hard to dodge.

Boom, boom, boom.

Every time the wild boar charged, Yami would shoot a few moonblades, causing its old wounds to be overlapped with new wounds, and the angrier it got, the more blood flowed.

After a few times, its movements slowed and its growling also revealed a hint of weakness.

"Little light Gu."

This time, Yami not only activated the Moonlight Gu, but also deployed his primeval essence and injected it into the Little light Gu.

The Moonlight Gu after being refined had always stayed in Yami's right palm, turning into a blue crescent moon tattoo. After the Little light Gu was refined, it also resided in his right palm, turning into the shape of a five-sided star.

At this point, his dark green primeval essence entered the two Gu, the moonlight emitting an eerie blue moonlight while the Little light Gu emitted a milky white glow.

The milky white light fused into the moonlight, and the originally small lump of moonlight instantly became twice as big.

"Go."

Yami's right hand sweeped, and an enhanced giant moonblade flew out.

Using only the Moonlight Gu, the size was only palm-sized. But with the addition and help of the Little light Gu, the moonblade's size doubled, and its attack range also doubled as well.

Swoosh!

The moonblade hit the wild boar on the neck, creeping into its black grey fur. It emerged from the other end and flew for about three to four meters before dissipating in the air.

Glup glup...

The wild boar stood on the spot, frozen for a moment, then blood oozed out from its injuries like a fountain.

It abruptly collapsed, half of its head cut off, washed away by the pouring blood, and only a small piece of flesh kept it together with its body.

A thick smell of blood gushed out into his nose.

Yami did not dare to hesitate, pointing a finger at the wild boar, and the White Boar Gu which was residing in his aperture instantly turned into a milky white light and entered the wild boar's body.

Yami stood on the spot, nervously staying alert of the surroundings. Although the beast skin map said that the area was relatively safe, there were always accidents in nature, what if beasts were attracted by the smell of the blood?

After a while, the White Boar Gu flew back safe and sound.

The entire boar had shrunk in half, only leaving behind its black grey fur and the intestines under its skin. As for the meat, most of it was eaten by the White Boar Gu.

But the strange thing was, although the White Boar Gu ate pork nearly a thousand times its size, it did not change physically.

There was not even a drip of blood on it, as it maintained that milky white worm appearance.

"After this meal, I'll come five days later to hunt boars." Yami kept the White Boar Gu, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he took out his knife and extracted the two tusks of the boar.

The wild boar's body had a few things of value.

The first was pork, the second was fur, and the third was its teeth.

But now the wild boar meat was mostly eaten by the White Boar Gu; its skin was full of holes due to the moonblades, being meaningless even if retrieved.

Only this pair of tusks had some value. It could be used as food for certain Gu worms which ate teeth as food, or used as a catalyst for some Gu worm's advancement.

Yami hid the teeth in the rock crack's secret cave before returning to the hostel.

He did not sleep immediately, but sat on his bed and started to cultivate.

Within the aperture, the primeval sea acted like waves, rising and falling.

Yami was now a middle stage Gu Master, so after using the Liquor worm refinement, he had upper stage primeval essence.

Thus, while the people his age had middle stage pale green primeval essence, Yami's primeval essence was dark green.

Now that he killed a boar, there was only 23% of his primeval essence in his aperture.

A Rank one Gu Master was not that strong in battle. Or rather, nature's environment was too harsh. Even if the moonblade could break bones, to kill a normal wild boar, Yami had to use 20% of his upper stage primeval essence.

"White Boar Gu."

His eyes were shut tight, his spirit immersed into his aperture.

In the aperture, a gush of dark green primeval essence rushed up against the flow, injecting into the White Boar Gu.

The White Boar Gu immediately emitted a bright white light, and the light enveloped Yami's body. If one looked from the outside, they would see that Yami's body was emitting a pure white light from the inside.

Yami's every muscle and every inch of skin, was soaked in this white light.

A feeling of numbness and itchiness was felt by him. As the white light modified his muscles, it allowed strength to be slowly infused into his body, thus gaining roots and never to be lost again.

However, after a moment, the numb feeling became pain. This pain was like getting electrocuted, from numbness to sharp pain like getting cut by razor blades.

Yami hurriedly stopped the White Boar Gu.

Anything prolonged was not good.

The White Boar Gu could not be overused, it could be applied about fifteen minutes a day. Exceed it, and extreme pain would be felt, increasingly painful.

If he continued using it despite that, a person might even die from the pain!

Time flies, and with the blink of an eye, it was already the middle of June.

The summer night, with the golden arc of the moon hanging high in the sky, shining its radiance on the green mountain lands.

The winds blew and the leaves danced with the moonlight. The song of the cicadas and bullfrogs were simultaneous with each other. At times the sound of a wolf howling could be heard from afar, echoing throughout the green mountain.

On a river bank, a creek was scrubbing over a piece of smooth cliff rock. Beside this bank, a battle was ongoing.

A mountain boar covered in fine and deep wounds all over kicked its legs and rushed forward once more towards Yami. The blood was pouring from its wounds, marking a road of fresh red liquid.

Yami wrestled with it, showing no signs of panic.

The wild boar was on the verge of death, but it was precisely these moments that wild beasts are the most dangerous. Using the last remaining potential of their lives, their insanity and tenacity, could cause one to get gravely injured at any careless moment.

Yami was peaceful, his black iris glowing eerily under the moonlight, showing the light of absolute calmness.

He had the experience of 500 years, a part of him was engrossed in combat, while another disengaged from the battle, and remained alert towards the surroundings.

Many times when he was hunting wild boars, other animals came to wreck havoc. At times, a wild boar, another time wild wolves, and even once a wandering tiger.

As time passed, the wild boar's attacks gradually slowed down.

Yami's eyes shone brightly as he took a few strides forward, getting close to the wild boar. Raising strength in his shoulder and arms, he carried and raised the wild boar in one breath.

Huff!

Yami growled as his face was puffed red, his arms stretching out and raising the wild boar high above his head.

The wild boar feebly struggled.

Yami's body was unstable, he used all his strength to throw the wild boar.

With a boom, the wild boar was thrown onto a large rock by the river bank. It cried pitifully as sounds of its bones breaking could be heard.

It fell down from the large rock, blood oozing out from its ears, nose and mouth.

It struggled a few times before drawing its final breath.

The surroundings regained its peace.

The river water flowed endlessly, carrying the boar's blood along the river to some far away place.

"My strength right now can compete with a boar! Tonight I'll go try that giant rock at the passageway." Yami stood on the spot, breathing in heavily with a hint of excitement flashing across his eyes.

These days he had used the White Boar Gu non-stop to increase the strength of his body. He could feel strongly now that his strength was getting bigger.

Back then when he fought wild boars, he could only use a kiting technique with the moonblade, but now he could even carry the wild boar, so the increment of his strength had shown great progress.

Of course, the White Boar Gu would not endless give him strength. The limit was a boar's strength, and once he reached the limit, it would no longer grant him any additional strength.

"I can carry a wild boar now, but that does not mean I can go head to head with a boar, like how a strong man can carry another strong man, but it does not mean they have equal strength. My strength can continue to grow."

Feeding all the pork to the White Boar Gu, Yami used his hunting knife to retrieve the boar's teeth, and finally diced up the already heavily torn boar skin, before going into the secret cave in the rock crack.

As for the boar's corpse, it did not need him to do anything. During the summer night, wild beasts roamed freely, and not long after, there should be wild beasts picking up the scent of the blood and rush here to clean the scene for Yami.

Or rather, even if someone found out, it was inconsequential. The wild boar's injuries were all 'edited' by Yami, looking nothing like moonblade cuts.

Back to the secret cave enveloped in red light, Yami threw the two wild boar teeth at a corner.

The wild boar's teeth collided, causing a crisp sound.

At this corner, there was already a pile of wild boar teeth. They were the results of Yami's hunting.

Yami squirmed into the passageway, once again getting to the end of the tunnel.

Walking on the tunnel, his footsteps could be heard echoing in the cave, his vision dyed red due to the light.

Everything was unchanged; the giant rock was still there, quietly blocking his path. As for the hole created after digging out the earth treasury flower, it had already been filled up by Yami.

Haa!

Yami walked in front of the giant rock, raised both hands and pushed.

Although his face grew red with exertion, and he used all his strength, the giant rock did not move an inch.

"With my current strength, I can only carry a wild boar. But this giant rock, it is at least the weight of five to six boars. No wonder I cannot move it. The Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance is not that easily obtained!" Yami's gaze shone as he estimated in his heart.

He did not give up, but instead came out of the tunnel and returned to the secret room upstairs.

Taking a bamboo tube from the corner of the wall, Yami sat on the ground and opened the lid, taking out the beast skin map and sheets of bamboo paper.

He opened the beast skin map and started to memorise it, using his fingers to draw on the traces on the map to aid in his memorization.

Ever since he had obtained the map, he had been doing this everyday.

Yami did not have a storage type Gu, he could not bring the beast skin map with him everywhere. Carrying a bamboo tube on him while battling is inconvenient too. Thus, Yami put in some effort and was prepared to stuff the entire beast skin map's content into his head.

Some things, even if troublesome, had to be done. In a person's life, those who did not actively resolve problems due to fearing trouble, would always face a dangerous predicament at the end. Yami understood this logic from his previous life.

"When one is young, their memory sure is good. I have already memorised more than half of this map. If I was old, I would probably forget the content while memorising this. Hehehe… of course if I had a Bookworm, I would feed this map to it, and from then on, as long as I do not lose the Bookworm, I will be able to recall this map clearly forever."

Yami had the Liquor worm, White Boar Gu, and was now beginning to have insatiable greed, starting to crave the Bookworm.

The value of the Bookworm was quite close to the Liquor worm and White Boar Gu, all being rare species among the Rank one Gu worms. The market price was expensive and they were often sold out in moments.

In his previous life, Yami did not obtain the Liquor worm or White Boar Gu, but he accidentally obtained a Bookworm. This Bookworm eventually advanced ranks with him, and accompanied him for a whole sixty years.

"Forget it, Bookworms are rare and low in numbers, I won't be able to get one anytime soon. To speak the truth, my current stage is way better than my previous life at this point. Last time at this period, I was still a Rank one initial stage, while the others like Naruto, Shino, Kiba were already upper stage, far beyond me." Yami was not someone who worried over nothing, quickly getting over it.

He was rather satisfied with his current progress.

He was a middle stage, and the others were also middle stage. With his C grade talent, he could maintain the same speed as these A and B grades, it was not easy. Much effort was given to the Liquor worm, as well as Yami's rich cultivating experience.

The other aspect, was also due to Yami.

His act of extortion had caused the classmates to bulk up on training their physical fighting skills under the help of their elders. Unknowingly, it caused them to be distracted, reducing the time they spent on nurturing their apertures. This resulted in everyone's cultivation level being even lower than Yami's past life.

But even so, they were not so far from upper stage now.

Gu Masters' early stage of cultivation was rather easy, seeing effect in a short period of time. Especially Uzumaki Naruto, Kiba and Shino, their cultivation level had already creeped and even seemed to surpass Yami.

With constant cultivation, these three with their talent, or the support behind them, had already begun to show their advantage. The lead that Yami had due to the Liquor worm was starting to disappear.

Of course, there was also the reason of him hunting recently and using the White Boar Gu to raise his strength, or spending much of his time and effort in doing so.

"At this rate, before long, someone will advance to upper stage. The first person that achieves upper stage will get a reward of thirty primeval stones. But this reward, I do not intend to contest for it." Yami had decided long ago.

If he abandoned the White Boar Gu now and rushed for upper stage, he might have some hopes of winning. But that was not Yami's goal. Thirty primeval stones might be good but he did not lack primeval stones at the moment.

The bigger reason was that he needed to remain concealed and keep a low profile to reduce other people's attention towards him, so that he can inherit the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance successfully.

This is his real motive.

"The academy has all sorts of rewards, but it is just carrots to pique the student's interest, and most importantly, it is a part of the family's system. Fighting for these little rewards, is not what a wise person would do."

Yami collect his spirits and gazed at the beast skin map again.

The beast skin map had two pages; one recorded the day while the other recorded the night. Many lines of different colours intertwined on it.

These lines, some were straight, some were curved, but they all had their own specific meaning. Only old Tazuna would be clear of their meaning, but it is a pity he died. But even if he was alive, by forcing him to speak, he might not say the truth.

These days, Yami relied on his knowledge and experience, and according to the bamboo paper's comparison, he had already deciphered it all.

"The red cross represents danger, a forbidden zone. The area with the red cross seems to be surrounded by wild boars, it is probably a wild boar king there. With my current strength, I'm as good as dead if I encounter one. Hmph!"

Thinking of old Tazuna, Yami could not help but snort again.

This area marked with a cross was not marked on the bamboo paper. If Yami really believed the bamboo paper, he would probably die by the fangs of the wild boar king one day. This old Tazuna was indeed experienced. To avenge his son, he did not have to act himself, but borrowed the wild boar king's strength. This way, even if Yami dies, he would be able to avoid responsibility.

"But these three spots marked with a red circle, what do they mean?" Yami was perturbed.

This was the beast skin map's final suspicious point.

Three red circles, showing three very isolated areas. They were also very far apart, and had little surrounding beasts, considered safer areas in the wild.

"The red cross represents forbidden area, but what does the red circle represent?" Yami fell into deep thoughts, "Normally, red is the most alert colour. old Tazuna marked these three areas, meaning they are important. It is a pity these areas are far, if not I would inspect them myself and find the reason."

The hot summer sun blazes on, the mountain winds blowing the warm winds around, Elemental Mountain steaming under the hot air.

In the blink of an eye, it was already near the end of June.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" In the academy, the family elder called out.

Uzumaki Naruto got up from his seat and came before the Academy Elder.

Under the admiring gaze of his classmates, Naruto received a heavy bag of primeval stones.

"Naruto, you are the first to advance to upper stage, this is your reward. Good job, continue working hard." Academy elder smiled pleasantly, patting Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto acknowledged with a grunt, his face full of excitement.

He took the money bag over with emotion and returned to his seat.

"I finally did it. The first to advance to upper stage, do you see that big brother, I finally beat you for once!"

His eyes shone with bright light as he swept his gaze over at Yami.

Yami was sprawled on the table, sound asleep. Last night he had killed another wild boar, and after returning to the hostel, he used the White Boar Gu to improve his body and also used the natural essence within the primeval stones to refine his primeval essence using the Liquor worm. Finally, he used his upper stage primeval essence to nurture his aperture, all the way until morning.

He hurriedly ate breakfast before rushing to class, falling asleep as soon as he settled in. He was too exhausted, and Gu Master cultivation could not replace sleep.

"Hmph, even if you don't admit it, this is the truth. Big brother, I have finally surpassed you! This is the first, and there will be a second time, a third time!"

Naruto clenched his fists. This success was extremely meaningful to him. He had already broken through the dark clouds in his heart, creating and opening to allow light to penetrate in.

Even though this light was thin, it gave Naruto hope and encouragement!

"Hmph, I actually lost to that Naruto." Kiba sat on his seat, arms crossed, feeling indignant.

"This is the advantage of an A grade, damn it..." Shino Aburame said with a dark expression. As he cultivated, he felt strongly the advantages of a good talent. Even with his grandfather Shibi Aburame's support, plus his extremely hard work, he was still left behind by Naruto.

"If only I had a Liquor worm, plus grandfather's help, I might not lose to Naruto! Those accursed Uzumaki family brothers! Little brother is A grade, suppressing us, but the brother being a C grade has a Liquor worm. Why did all the good things in this world go to these brothers?" Shino Aburame felt really indignant.

"This time Naruto broke through to upper stage first."

"Of course, he is A grade talent".

"Yeah, even Kiba, Shino, and Yami lost to Naruto. Naruto has gained all the attention this time."

"Yami having the Liquor worm is not putting in effort. Wasting his time everyday, even sleeping in class, he might as well give his Liquor worm to me."

The surrounding students discussed, feeling indignant in their hearts, helplessness and envy.

The academy elder called them one by one, and students went up continuously to collect their primeval stones allowance, and returned to their seats.

"Everyone quieten down." After the allowance was given out, the academy elder used his hand to hit the table. All of a sudden, the academy became silent.

"Now, you've all mastered your second Gu worm and even so much as broke through into the upper stage. In the past half a year, you have all worked hard, and now you have some basics, it is time for you to train in the wilds. True battles, are not scarecrows or puppets, wooden puppets that stand there and await your attacks.

"The following mid year examination, will be held three days later, all students have to attend! The examination content is to hunt wild boars. By collecting wild boar teeth as results to record, those who collect the most wild boar teeth will get better scores. At the end of the examination, each wild boar teeth can be exchanged for ten primeval stones. Furthermore, you are allowed to hunt in groups."

The academy elder's words caused a commotion among the students.

"The mid-year exam is finally here!"

"Every year's students study at the academy for a year, and there is always a mid-year exam and an end of year exam. Looking at the time, it really is time for the mid-year exam."

"Every year's examination content is different, to think that this year, our examination is to hunt and acquire wild boar teeth."

"What should we do? My talent is only D grade, my vital Gu isn't an attack-type like the Moonlight Gu, how can I hunt wild boars?"

"Didn't you hear, the family elder said, we are allowed to hunt in groups. For those with talent that can't make it, or those with Gu worms that aren't suitable, we can help each other and cooperate! When we get boar teeth, we just need to share with one another, and that would work."

"Each wild boar teeth can be exchanged for ten primeval stones, this is the academy encouraging us to hunt more wild boars, and the prize is set for that. For true market value, one primeval stone can buy twenty wild boar teeth."

The students had varying expressions, some were happy while other fretted, some were eager to go, while others called on companions, even Yami was slightly moved.

"It changed! I remember that last year's examination was to collect wildlife honey. To think that it changed to wild boar teeth. Is this the butterfly effect?"

A butterfly flapping its wings can cause a giant storm on the coast of another ocean. A small change in the initial conditions lead to drastic changes in the results.

Ever since his rebirth, Yami had made many changes, the conditions of his current self was vastly different from his previous life. Back then he had already been left behind by Naruto and the others, but now he was adamantly at the top of the student board.

In his past life he did not kill Uchiha Sasuke, in fact they did not even meet. But this life, he did not only kill Uchiha Sasuke, he even excavated the deeper treasures of the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.

These changes are like a butterfly flapping its wings, indirectly causing changes to the environment. The mid-year examination change is only the first of such symptoms.

"If I continue changing things, will it cause history to become completely unrecognisable as well? In that case, the advantage from my rebirth would be significantly reduced."

Yami looked calm, but was sighing internally.

The feeling of inability and pressing urgency roamed his heart, but he quickly adjusted his mood.

"No matter what, since it has already happened, I can't stop it. What I need to do now is to actively change myself. Even if the events are completely different at the end, I would not slow down my growth just because of such concerns!"

"In my past life I knew nothing about the future, does that mean that in my current life I lack courage? Hehe, even if the world is full of thorns, I will cut through all the thorns in my way and pave out a blood-filled path myself!"

"Every teeth for ten primeval stones, this price is very high. Should I sell all those wild boar fangs I have stocked up at the cave? But if I do, I might attract suspicion? No, according to the Konoha Clan's political situation, if I sell these wild boar teeth publicly, I might get screwed over."

Yami shook his head, the risks were too big. If he really sold these teeth, what could he get in return?

A little over one hundred primeval stones?

"Wait, primeval stones aren't important. Maybe I can use this change to construct my image again." Thinking of this, Yami's eyes shone brightly.

He needed to get rich secretly now, being as low profile as possible. If the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was exposed, he might even lose his life.

But his current position was awkward.

He stood against all his classmates, being outside the system, and among the higher-ups, he was an untamable, unhappy and indignant, intelligent and cold, C grade talent teenager.

This image was not good, it literally portrayed him as unloyal. But a clan requires loyalty, in fact, any organisation requires loyalty.

No matter which world, loyalty is the value that is most sought after in clans. Loyalty to the clan, loyalty to the country, loyalty to his leader, loyalty to his loved one, loyalty to his friends etc.

As Yami's cultivation level got higher, the higher-ups would only get more concerned, and if needed, the clan may even use hard handed methods on him. At that point, Yami would be really thrown into passivity.

Yami did not like passiveness, he liked to have the control of all matters tightly in his grip.

Because of a series of events before, Yami could only operate on the go, relying on outside strength, and this image he constructed was only to protect himself in times of need.

But now that he could protect himself, Yami needed to be stronger!

Thus, he needed to change this image, letting the higher-ups think that he had given up and joined the clan system. But this conversation cannot be too abrupt, or it would be suspicious.

More importantly, joining this system is only a facade, Yami would not really join them truly, and be manipulated and restricted. He had too many secrets.

He needed large amounts of freedom, and in actuality he was still a loner in operation.

But now the mid-year exam was a chance.

"It seems I have to do some plotting, I'll start from the extortion then." Yami's gaze became certain as everything fell into his scheme.

"You said that during Yami's extortion this time, although he defeated Naruto, Shino and Kiba, he left go of them and did not take their primeval stones?" Hearing the guard's report, the academy elder revealed a slightly shocked expression.

"I dare not lie to lord, it is indeed like this." The guard kneeling on the ground immediately responded.

"Mm." The academy elder did not express his opinion, and waved his hand, "I have understood this matter, you may go."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

Once the guard had left, the academy elder immediately fell into deep thoughts.

He was originally concerned with this matter as he was afraid Yami would snatch away the thirty primeval stones that Naruto had gotten as a reward. If that was the case, the academy's reward system would have no meaning, they might as well give everything to Yami.

If Yami really did that, the academy would not allow it, and the academy elder was already prepared to punish Yami.

But he did not expect that not only did Yami have no intention to take the thirty primeval stones from Naruto, he even let go of Kiba and Shino as well.

"Yami has hundreds of primeval stones on hand, he might not be too concerned with the thirty primeval stones, that is understandable. But giving up on extorting Kiba, Shino and Naruto, what is the reason?"

The academy elder contemplated, his eyebrows gradually easing. He had understood something.

Kiba, Shino and Naruto, they could be said to represent the three factions of the clan. Letting go of them, the meaning was that he was appealing to the three different factions. This was understandable, as Yami's attitude change meant that he was finally willing to lower his head to the clan.

"Understandable. As he cultivated, Yami may have the Liquor worm, but the situation has gotten clearer to him. The inability of a C grade talent, after a few outbursts, and letting go of the majority of his negative feelings, he is probably rather downhearted and depressed now."

"It seems the clan leader's words make sense, Yami is after all a fifteen year old, how can he go against the clan's system? Now that he has started to accept reality, once he finds the position that he belongs to, he would fuse into the clan naturally."

Thinking of this, the academy elder breathed out a sigh of relief, his feelings becoming more cheerful.

Three days passed in a flash. Soon, the mid-year exam was here.

"Faster, faster, I've lured the wild boar out!" A youngster ran as he shouted out frantically.

On both his legs, there was a light green ring of swirling wind. With these two rings, it led to him having above average speed at such a young age.

However, the wild boar chasing after him became faster and faster, and the distance between them was shortening.

The scorching sun penetrated the forest and reflected on the wild boar, causing both its teeth to shine brightly.

"The wild boar is coming, hold the rope tightly!" The four ambushing youngsters quickly hid in the bushes and pulled the ropes tightly, instantly forming a tripping rope.

The speeding youngster leapt lightly, jumping over the road and continued running.

But the boar behind him tripped over the rope and fell harshly on the ground, crashing five to six meters before stopping.

"Oww!" The four youngsters were pulled along by the rope, and fell to the ground along with the wild boar.

"Strike!" The youngster running ahead turned around and shouted.

The few people lying on the ground frantically stood up, and surrounded the wild boar.

Kacha!

A small budding tree, under the impact of the wild boar, snapped in half and the tree crown fell to the ground.

"What a close shave!" Shino Aburame wiped the sweat off his forehead, feeling lingering fear. "Luckily I managed to use the Dragonpill cricket Gu and leapt three meters to the left, otherwise this tree would've been my outcome."

Pew pew pew!

Moonblade danced in the air as it hit the wild boar's body, causing long and shallow cuts.

Kiba's face was excited, his eyes glowing, his spirits immersed in this battle.

Half an hour later, the wild boar collapsed due to excessive loss of blood.

Kiba breathed roughly and also sat on the ground, his entire body full of mud and grass, at the same time full of sweat.

"Fighting against a living being like the wild boar is indeed different from the wooden puppet, grass puppet during practise battles. I spent thirty minutes just to kill a wild boar, I wonder how are the others doing?"

On a hidden small hill, there was a temporarily built tent. The tent blocked the punishing sun rays and casted an area of cool dark shadowy shade.

Under the cover, there was a few chairs and tables, with the academy elder sitting at the main seat. Beside him, there were other clan elders. A few Gu Masters were standing behind them.

In the surrounding forests around the tent, there were also some hidden Gu Masters.

At this time, the forest ahead had an abnormal disturbance.

Whoosh!

A Gu Master emerged from the forest like a shadow and quickly ran out, kneeling outside the tentage.

"How is the situation?" Academy elder asked.

"Reporting to Lord Elder, at this point, there are no casualties among the students." The Gu Master quickly answered.

"Good, good."

"An afternoon had already gone by since the mid-year exam started. To have no injuries, this is different from the past years."

"It looks like this is all the academy elder's effort."

The other clan elders nodded satisfactorily, praising in turns.

The academy elder shook his head slightly, he knew the reason. This was due to Yami's emergence, extorting his classmates, causing them to practise hard on basic martial arts, thus having such a performance.

He looked towards the kneeling Gu Master, and continued asking, "Then at this point, whose results are the best?"

The Gu Master answered immediately, "Reporting to Lord, at this point, Uzumaki Yami, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, are leading. Shino killed three boars, Naruto and Kiba killed five, and Yami has the most, at eight."

"Oh? To think Yami is leading!"

"In all the years, it is a very rare sight that A and B grade talents are being suppressed by a C grade."

"He has the Liquor worm right? That means he has upper stage green copper primeval essence, so to have such a result, it is understandable."

"I believe that from now on, Naruto, Kiba and Shino would surpass him. Although he has the Liquor worm, his primeval essence recovery rate cannot compare to A, B grade talents."

The other clan elders discussed.

"You may go." Academy elder waved his hand towards the kneeling Gu Master. "Instruct the others, focus on their protecting job. Especially Naruto, Shino and Kiba, pay more attention and ensure their safety!"

"Yes, lord." The Gu Master retreated.

These outdoor combats to most students, it was really their first time. Thus, there was danger and the clan naturally has plans. Dozens of Rank two Gu Masters were concealed in the forests, controlling the safety of this entire examination. At the same time, some Rank three clan elders were staying here to anticipate sudden accidents.

The blazing sun slowly descended from the highest point in the sky, gradually nearing the north-east mountains.

The sunset glow ignited the clouds; it was the sun's last flow of passion.

As the last sunlight shone into the forest, another wild boar fell on the ground.

"Twenty third." Yami calculated in his heart, and then squatted down, skillfully carving out a wild boar teeth.

There was a bag on his back, inside was a large number of wild boar teeth.

At the same time, he had another bag, carrying the teeth of those boars he killed last time. These teeth were originally stored in the rock crack secret cave, and were retrieved by Yami the previous night, stored into a bag and buried in a secret location.

"I am familiar with the terrain and wild boar distribution, at the same time I have upper stage primeval essence to use the Moonlight Gu together with the Little light Gu. The others' efficiency definitely cannot compare to me. Just with this bag on me, I can get number one easily. I wonder what expressions they would show when I take out the other bag later? Hehe."

Yami looked at the sky; it was time to retrieve the other bag.

Thinking of this, in his head, a map showed up.

These days, he had memorized the beast skin map. Yami was clear of his current position. If he turned left and walked along the stream for fifteen minutes, he would reach the location where he buried the bag.

But when he was about to move, he hesitated.

"With my current location, I am only five to six hundred meters away from the nearest red circle marking. Such a rare chance, should I go take a look?"

Once he had the thought, it was unstoppable.

Since he had already won anyway, Yami had a lot of time left.

"That beast skin map had three red circle markings, these three locations were very important to old Tazuna. It is also the only meaning that I could not decipher on the map. I'll go see!"

Yami naturally knew that there were Gu Masters controlling the scene, but this was also why he needed evidence.

Immediately, he acted like he was going to continue killing wild boars, and moved deeper into the forest.

Seven minutes later, he arrived at the red marking location.

A treehouse was hidden among the bushes on a huge tree, and if one did not observe closely they would not be able to find it.

"This is old Tazuna's temporary residence while hunting?" Yami frowned, his heart getting confused.

He climbed into the treehouse.

When he saw the sight in the tree house, his expression changed!

The space in the tree house isn't large, but there were many items inside, so at one glance it seemed extremely messy.

The floor in the center had a thick dark yellow-coloured carpet.

Inside the house, there was an iron stove beside the wall, and on it there was a bronze kettle. Inside the stove there was black coloured soot, and beside it there was a small pile of unburnt dried firewood.

Despite it being summer, the nights in this mountain were still icy cold. The iron stove could maintain the entire treehouse's warmth when lit, despite its small size.

The treehouse has two sets of windows, two to three ropes wrapped as the frame of the windows, connecting the two together in the middle of the room.

On the rope hanged several torn pieces of clothing, the torn patches pieced together. It was obviously an adult's clothing and was still slightly damp, not completely dry from the sun yet.

The light of the setting sun penetrated the windows and shone inside the treehouse.

The treehouse was rather dark internally. At a corner there were axes and hunting knives with beast skin wrapped on the handle. On the blade there was even dark red blood traces.

On the other side of the wall, there was a piece of bamboo paper with a dagger stabbed in the middle.

There was a young man's face on the bamboo paper — it was Yami's appearance!

This all meant that during this short period, someone had come to the hidden treehouse and lived here. The person's intention was obvious, his target was Yami.

The paper was stabbed by a dagger and showed his evil intent to the extremes!

Such a scenario, even Yami was taken aback.

"What does this person want, and why is he against me? No, maybe it isn't me but Naruto." Yami's thoughts flew all over his mind.

Naruto was an A grade talent, the only one in the last three years of the Konoha Clan, and is their only hope. If he could be truly nurtured, he would be the next figure in the clan.

But nurturing was a process.

During this process, there were calamities and human-made disasters.

Ignoring calamities, the most important was human disasters. As everyone knew, Elemental mountain did not only have the Konoha Clan, but also the Kiri clan and Iwa clan. These two forces would not be happy to see the dominating Konoha Clan successfully nurturing an A grade talent.

Thus, sending assassins to get rid of him was a common thing.

In this world, there are little geniuses, and even less of those who could successfully grow up.

A grade talent Gu Masters, it was not that they did not exist. Three years ago, one appeared in the Konoha Clan. In even earlier generations, they also appeared on occasions.

But on Elemental Mountain, out of the three clans in these years, there was only one successful A grade talent nurtured — the Kiri clan's Haku of Rank three cultivation.

Such a scenario was enough to say many things.

"This person, is he from the Kiri clan or the Iwa clan? They want to get rid of Uzumaki Naruto so soon?" Yami frowned, staring at the portrait.

"But why did old Tazuna's beast skin map indicate this treehouse? Was he a spy from the other forces? No, this person is obviously after me!"

Yami's eyes shone with brilliance.

At this moment, he thought of many scenes.

The first time, it was beside the trap, and the four hunter's conversation —

A hunter said, "Second brother Inari, you're almost nineteen, it is time you got married and have children."

Inari said, "Hmph, as a true man, how can I be lusting after such small beauty! One day, I will walk out of this Elemental mountain and roam the world, learn everything in the world and live up to the expectations of my male body!"

The second time was after he himself acted, Inari's peculiar calmness. He pulled his bow and pointed at Yami. The others were already begging for forgiveness.

The third was when Yami was asking questions.

"I ask you, in old Tazuna's family, who else is there?"

A hunter answered, "Tazuna originally had a wife, but that was decades ago, and she was killed by wild wolves that intruded the village. Before his wife died she gave birth to two sons and a daughter. But the oldest son Kaiza died on the mountain while hunting three years ago. There is no one else in their family."

"I, I remember! old Tazuna actually also has a daughter-in-law, Kaiza's old wife. But after Kaiza disappeared, his wife died due to a broken heart. That year, the village even specially sent down a chastity memorial arch! But rumour has it that Kaiza's wife wanted to remarry, and she was actually hounded to death by old Tazuna. When you killed old Tazuna, lord, you are helping us citizens, rooting out the evil and bringing people peace!"

The other hunter quickly added, "That's right, that's right. Actually lord, we have long found this old Tazuna unfavourable. Hmph, he's nothing special, just that he can hunt better than us. We're all just mortals, yet he thinks he's more special than us and purposely moved out of the village to live here. As the younger generation, we sometimes will ask him to teach us and impart his experiences, but he would just outright chase us away and never allow us to show up again near the wooden house!"

old Tazuna's family, moving out of the village, away from people…...

Eldest son Kaiza, died on the mountains three years ago while hunting…...

Kaiza's wife wanted to remarry, and was forced to commit suicide by old Tazuna, and obtained a chastity memorial arch...

old Tazuna chased away all the young hunters who were trying to ask for guidance...

old Tazuna tried his best to hide the beast skin map, and on the bamboo paper, there were no such circles…...

Inari was at such a young age, but was calm towards Gu Masters. At the same time he did not marry, and had the aspiration to surpass mortal realm in his heart…...

Most importantly, the circles on the beast skin map indicated a hidden realm, there was obvious human activity in the area. At the same time this person held strong hatred towards Yami…...

All the clues pieced together, if separated they were not easy to link, but once linked it was peculiar!

The more Yami thought about it, the more he felt that the mist shrouding this mystery has thinned.

The setting sun's afterglow passed through the window and reflected upon his face, the strong light alike to the colour of blood.

The surroundings had fallen into a deadly silence, was there someone secretly peeping at him all this time?

Suddenly, Yami's eyes lit up, his vision crossing through time and space; he had seen the truth!

"Kaiza, did not die."

At this moment, the glow in his eyes radiated the surroundings.

"Not only did he not die, he even became a demonic Gu Master by chance!"

It was not that mortals had no cultivating talent, but that the clan restricted the cultivation methods from leaking out, and controlled it tightly in their hands.

But there was no absolute in this world.

Mortals could become Gu Masters as well, from accidents in the wild and encountering the Hope Gu, opening their aperture. Or inheriting a certain strength inheritance, or getting the personal guidance from a certain clan's member.

But these Gu Masters were not accepted into the clan completely, and could only be their henchmen. Thus, they would not be satisfied and became loner Gu Masters. Their cultivation is extremely difficult. As time passed, as they competed for resources, they would have to kill snatch and murder, turning towards the demonic path.

"Because of some lucky chance, the highest possibility is that he obtained a large fortune from a certain Gu Master's corpse and became a Gu Master three years ago. To hide from others, he sent out the fake information that he died, but no one had ever seen his corpse. old Tazuna's family found out about this and moved out of the village, risking the chance that wild beasts might invade and lived alone, just to hide this truth."

"But there were some problems that occurred, Kaiza's wife did not agree and might have wanted to report to the Konoha Clan. His family had no choice but to kill her, and released some seemingly real and fake information to hide the truth. Something about her remarrying, or forcing her to commit suicide to hide the truth under all these rumors."

"Once in awhile, Kaiza would return home to stay. Thus, old Tazuna had to chase those youngsters who were seeking guidance away. Inari after interacting with his brother had dispelled his fear of Gu Masters, and naturally developed the goal of wanting to be a Gu Master and explore the greatness of the outside world!"

"Because of the fear that Kaiza might be exposed, even at such an old age Inari did not get married. Kaiza could not stay in the house, thus old Tazuna drew three red circles on the beast skin map, these three locations should be hidden residential areas like this. Having three hiding spots, Kaiza rotated his stay around the houses, and lived in the fringe of the three clans' authority."

The meaning of the three red circles was finally revealed!

Red indicated alertness, but most importantly to old Tazuna, this was his eldest son's residence. Thus, when Yami wanted the old man to draw the map, he did not indicate it on the bamboo paper, it was to protect his son. Similarly, he drew fewer red crosses, to avenge the death of his son.

"Maybe at a certain time each year, Kaiza will return home to stay for a while. When he returned, he found that his entire family was dead. After asking around, he found out it was me, thus he used the dagger to pin my portrait on the wall, so that he would exact revenge on me!"

With his previous life's experience, Yami was almost certain this was the truth.

If it was some other power that wanted to assassinate Naruto, they could be much more subtle. They did not have to develop a spy like old Tazuna. After all, old Tazuna lived at the mountain foot, not inside the Konoha village.

"To think that over a beast skin map, I provoked a murderer of the demonic faction. This world really works in wondrous ways," Yami could not help but snicker.

He first killed Inari, the old Tazuna and Tazuna's daughter, and it was all for the beast skin map. old Tazuna was the number one hunter in the village, so his beast skin map had the greatest value.

At that time he was thinking: It's merely three mortal lives, what's the big deal, I'll just killing them conveniently.

In this world, anyone had the right to live, and anyone could die just as easily.

To think that out of nowhere, a demonic way Gu Master emerged!

With regards to this, Yami did not have a tint of regret, but instead felt at ease.

If he had been too merciful at the time, in his goal to obtain their beast skin map, Inari, old Tazuna and sister Tsunami would've been a huge disturbance. To protect Kaiza's secret, they would not give him the real product.

Inari's battle strength could exterminate an ordinary Rank one upper stage Gu Master. old Tazuna was even more experienced with age, and in terms of killing strength, he was even more of a threat than Inari.

Even if he had gotten the real product, old Tazuna would've informed Kaiza, and Kaiza would've gotten Yami's information immediately. No matter how he dealt with it, he would be in the shadows while Yami was out in the open. Kaiza would be having the advantage of being in control of the situation.

"Good thing I killed them at the start! Regardless of what, I have to control the situation in my own palm. This way, even if I do not get the real item, there is no loss to me, and I can even snatch other hunters'. Killing old Tazuna and that girl caused Kaiza to spend a lot of time just to get my intel. Needless to say, those two young hunters must've already been silenced." Yami confirmed in his heart.

There was only a few people who knew the situation, and Kaiza would not attack Jibei. Once Jibei is dead, the clan would send people to investigate. But if those two hunters disappeared on the mountain, it was easy to manipulate. Jibei would not reveal an incident like this as it would affect the clan's evaluation of him, and would even cover up the situation.

The thoughts of Yami flew all over the place in the tree house.

With the knowledge acquired from his previous life, Yami could sense Kaiza's existence, but how was his strength?

Yami had never seen this Kaiza, but with the information at hand, there was much he could analyze from this.

"Courage is built upon the basis of strength, he had collected my information and still wants to exact revenge on me. With such a confidence, his cultivation has to be above Rank one!"

"These three years he had been moving around the three red circled areas, living on the fringe of the three clan villages. Almost everyday he faced the risk of getting discovered and purged. This shows he does not have the strength to roam outside, and roaming outside requires Rank three cultivation.

"This means that, at first evaluation, he is a Rank two."

Yami's eyes glinted with cold light, "Counting the time, he disappeared for three years and cultivated to Rank two now, so he should be a B or C grade talent, and his aperture should have about 40-70% primeval essence."

"These three years, he could survive and at the same time, live at home despite Jibei's observation, so he has to have a stealth-type of Gu worm at work.

Information was the most important thing to a Gu Master's showdown.

Although Yami had no investigative-type Gu worm, with his experience and knowledge, he could forcefully reverse engineer Kaiza's cultivation level and Gu worms to a highly plausible degree.

Very quickly, his mental image of a Rank two demonic faction Gu Master appeared, carrying the hatred of his family's murder and lurking somewhere to kill his revenge target.

"I can kill others, others can naturally come to kill me. This is nothing." Yami laughed lightly.

In this world, anyone had the right to live, and anyone had the chance to die.

Those who kill, are bound to get killed.

Since he committed murder, he should be mentally prepared to get killed.

If he was killed like that, then he would die like that, it was nothing much, and definitely no regrets. This was the path he chose.

This point, Yami had great resolve is the resolution of the demonic way!

"Kaiza wants to kill me, then in this mid-year exam, it is definitely the best chance. Normally, students would reside in the village, and with his Rank two cultivation, he cannot creep into the village, that is courting death."

"Maybe he evaluated that I might come out to hunt. But Elemental Mountain is so huge, he alone has to hide his traces and also have to search for me, it is too difficult. Now that there's this chance, he is most likely to strike."

"He is a Rank two Gu Master, and one that has struggled for three years, living a life of danger and unknown, a demonic faction Gu Master nurtured like this. With my current battle strength, I am definitely not his match. But this does not mean that I have no chance of survival."

Escape!

Yami instantly decided.

Nothing is too shameless if it is to survive, so if he can't fight it, run.

For a Gu Master to make a sudden breakthrough is almost never happening. Fighting against a higher realm is possible, but that is built on the base that the Gu Master has special Gu worms.

Yami had a number of Gu worms in his possession, but the Spring Autumn Cicada was hibernating and unusable, while the Liquor worm, White Boar Gu, Little light Gu and Moonlight Gu were not trump cards to fight a higher realm.

Obviously knowing the enemy was unbeatable, yet resolving to fight to the death, that is a stupid "hot-blooded" behaviour. Even if he wins, that would not win him the favor of fate.

Yami is cautious his entire life even with trump cards, and if the chances of victory is slim, he would choose to avoid combat.

He liked to be in control of the situation, using unscrupulous methods to raise his chances to the limit. He loved fighting assured battles.

Only when he has no choice would he engage in a risky fight.

Thus, his favourite activity was to bully the weak and snatch resources to get stronger. Strong enough until he surpasses his enemies and then stomp on them afterwards, bullying the weak.

There is nothing shameless about this, those who find challenges just to prove their bravery and risk their lives to fight to the death with strong enemies, that is the real stupidity.

But unfortunately, this "quality" has been praised and recommended, because any organization needed the individual to sacrifice themselves to protect the interests of the ones in power.

One just needs to think slightly to know that survival is the prerequisite to all activities.

In order to survive and fulfill the ambitions on their heart, this is a person's greatest courage.

Dying for aspiration, those are fools. Surviving shamelessly for their ambitions, those are true brave warriors!

On the Shinobi World, there have been legendary people who once had to endure the shame of crawling through someone's legs, and there even was one legend who had to eat shit to express his loyalty…...

That's why, fuck off with honor and reputation, and face!

Regardless of organization, they would applaud such a value system. The more that needed to be sacrificed, the more they would be promoted, like a military.

"Which direction should I go, the one that has the lowest chance of encountering Kaiza?" A map appeared in Yami's mind.

"Kaiza already knows I have the beast skin map, now he should be hiding in the forest, searching for me by looking for the wild boar distribution on the map. I cannot go to these places, thus I can only move in reverse to find a chance to survive." Thinking of this, a slightly insane route surfaced in Yami's mind. Under the sunset in the mountain forest, tree shadows overlapped and wild grass grew abundantly.

A pair of bloodshot eyes hid deep in the shadows. His eyes burnt with hatred and anger, as if it couldn't be doused even with a tsunami.

"Yami, I've finally found you..." Kaiza gritted his teeth, growling the words out from his mouth.

Under his gaze, not far away, a youngster with a thin body and pale face was traversing the forest.


	14. Kindly Letting Little Bro Know His Place

**Kindly Letting Little Bro Know His Place**

With his enemy nearby, Kaiza did not act immediately, but turned his gaze to several other positions.

From each of these positions, an invigilator Gu Master was hidden.

To prevent cheating and for immediate treatment of injuries, the area nearby had around a few dozen Rank two Gu Masters hiding. There was even Rank three clan elders holding the fort on the mountains high up.

Kaiza carefully moved around the forest and collected a lot of intel.

"I want to kill Yami, so I need to get rid of these three Gu Masters first. Otherwise, once I show myself, I will be disturbed. Maybe with surprise, I can kill Yami, but I will also get killed by the Gu Masters that chase after me from there."

"I have Rank two middle stage cultivation, and there's 50% primeval essence in my body. I have to act first and kill these three Gu Masters, it is difficult. I have to strike consecutively in a very short period. Otherwise, once they find their companions dead, they would become alert and my traces will be exposed…..."

"Shadow Follower Gu." Kaiza closed his eyes and called in his heart.

Immediately, his body became enshrouded in a lump of darkness and could move among the tree shadows.

All was silent.

In a thick bush nearby, the Konoha Clan's Rank two Gu Master sprawled inside, yawning out of boredom.

"So boring, accompanying these junior students, I feel like a nanny." This Gu Master complained softly, not feeling the shadow that was slowly creeping around him.

A pair of bony hands stretched out from the shadows.

This pair of hands was pale to the limit, the joints were huge and the ten nails were sharp and long, the nails dyed a shade of dark purple and emitted a slightly fishy smell.

"What smell is this?" The Konoha Clan Gu Master sniffed, frowning subconsciously.

He just wanted to investigate, but it was too late.

Kaiza pounced like a snake, striking at lightning speed!

One hand covered the Gu Master's mouth and nose, while the other stabbed from the shadows towards his back. His dark purple nails were sharp as blades, his fingers easily entering the Gu Master's body and reaching his heart.

The fingernails were poisonous, and at that moment it invaded the heart. Through the blood, it spread all over the Gu Master's body.

The Gu Master's body stiffened and lost all signs of life.

Although they were both Rank two Gu Masters, one had assaulted abruptly with preparation, so before the battle even begun, it had ended.

"I used 10% of my primeval essence, 40% left." Kaiza checked his aperture, and fused into the shadows once again.

A moment later, the second Gu Master hiding behind a rock also met his assault. His eyes shrunk to pin size as he collapsed on the ground.

The poison invaded his body, and soon he turned purple, and from his nose two streams of purple blood flowed out.

"30% left." Kaiza chanted silently, turning into shadows again.

"Who is it!" The third Gu Master was hiding on a tree branch atop a huge tree. At the crucial moment he sensed something wrong, and at the time where Kaiza struck, he turned around and grabbed the two poisonous hands.

"Damn it!" Kaiza laughed sinisterly, his ten nails growing crazily, at once becoming five centimeters long, stabbing the Gu Master's forearm and piercing his skin.

His forearm bled and the blood quickly turned dark purple.

"This is the Love Life Separation?!" The third Gu Master seeing this was shocked beyond doubt; the purple poison had already infected his face.

He knew he had no poison resistance Gu worm and was surely dead, thus he showed resolve on his face, shouting, "Then let's die together!"

He opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue.

There was a crescent moon tattoo on his tongue — it was the Moonlight Gu.

A moonblade shot out and slashed Kaiza's right shoulder, piercing through and coming out from his back.

The blood splattered.

Kaiza grunted, his body swaying a little, but the Gu Master had already passed away, with no trace of life left.

"Correct, this is Love Life Separation." Kaiza stood on the tree branch, slowly standing up, showing a bitter smile.

Love Life Separation, the number one poison among the Rank two Gu worms! To refine it, one needs the Rank one life breath grass, widow spider, red needle scorpion and the heart of a lover.

To refine this Gu worm, Kaiza killed his own wife who loved him deeply, and dug out her heart!

"It is all for survival, I could only choose strength... this is the resolution of my demonic path!" Kaiza's eyes were red as he stared tightly at the nearby youngster.

"Kill!" Kaiza growled, ferociously leaping into the air from the tree branch.

As he was about to get near to his mortal enemy, three moonblades shot out from nowhere suddenly and intercepted him midway.

"Why is there a fourth Gu Master?" Kaiza's heart sank, twisting his body forcefully in midair, narrowing avoiding two moonblades. The remaining one, which he could no longer evade, hit his left leg.

Bang!

Kaiza crashed onto the ground, lowering his head to look at his left leg. There was a wound, deep and long, blood already dripping all over.

"Damn…..." Kaiza gritted his teeth, his heart thinking, "Shadow Follower Gu!"

Immediately, he turned into a lump of dark shadow as his speed rose drastically, moving backwards without a sound.

At this moment.

A Gu worm flew out from nowhere, at the same time an old and weary voice sounded out —

"Flash Blink Gu, explode."

The Gu worm exploded on command, turning into a blinding white light.

The white light was unavoidable, abruptly appearing and turning the entire dark forest bright.

"Ah!" Kaiza shrieked. His body which had turned into shadows could not hide anywhere under the bright light, and went back to his human form.

Although the Flash Blink Gu was only Rank one and also a consumable type, it was the complete counter of Kaiza's Shadow Follower Gu. Once the darkness was dispelled by the light, the Rank two Shadow Follower Gu needed to rest three hours before it could be used again.

In nature, all beings are equal, one counters another. Although the Shadow Follower Gu had very strong lurking abilities, it also had a great weakness.

After he was countered, Kaiza's heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

This fourth Gu Master was more experienced, not only did he know which Gu to use, he also hid himself well, a true foe. More importantly, Kaiza could no longer use the Shadow Follower Gu, thus having no way to retreat.

"I am Jiraiya, lad, if you surrender now, my clan might still spare your life!" A white haired, silver beard Rank two Gu Master appeared in front of Kaiza's vision.

"Spare me, hmph, I'll kill you first!" Kaiza knew that if it was dragged, there would be more Gu Masters appearing to deal with him, he had to kill this fourth Gu Master as soon as possible.

"My primeval essence only has 20% left, be it revenge or preserving my life, I have to kill this meddlesome old fellow first!" Kaiza picked up his spirits and jumped towards Jiraiya.

Jiraiya snorted. His entire body, be it hair or pore hair, grew insanely and intertwined, in the blink of an eye forming a snow white battle armor with a spiky design.

Seeing this change, Kaiza's expression changed. The experienced Gu Master was like a porcupine, causing Kaiza to not know how to strike.

His Rank two strong poison Gu Love Life Separation, although the poison was extremely strong and deadly, it did not have strong attacking abilities, only usable as a sneak attack.

Kaiza only had Love Life Separation and Shadow Follower Gu. If he had a defensive Gu worm, he would not have gotten hit by the moonblade.

"Hmph, if I cannot deal with you, I'll kill Yami first!" Kaiza was not stupid. The three years of living had made him cunning and ruthless.

He moved quickly, getting around Jiraiya and attacking the culprit of his family's murder.

"Dream on!" Jiraiya activated his primeval essence, and his body of spikes immediately shot out two sharp pins, spiralling and flying five to six metres towards Kaiza.

Kaiza's body shifted, narrowly avoiding the two snow white spikes.

On his hands, his ten nails were half a palm long, purple and dark, the fog state poison circulating them.

"Die!" Kaiza was already mad from battle, laughing maniacally as he rushed towards his target.

In his eyes, Yami's face was full of shock and panic.

Killing intent had overtaken Kaiza's brain, he could almost hear himself piercing Yami's skin, and his indignant last breath.

"You wish!"

Seeing that he was about to succeed, another person appeared, blocking Kaiza's way.

The fifth Gu Master rushed over from nearby!

"It's actually the Love Life Separation?" This middle-aged man was unmoved by Kaiza's crazy and ferocious demeanour.

Rock Skin Gu!

The middle-aged man activated his primeval essence, red steel primeval essence gushing out like smoke, his naked arms immediately turned from yellow to grey-white colour. At the same time both his arms expanded like balloons, forming a large and thick rock arm.

As both parties got closer, Kaiza's expression became more twisted and insane. The middle-aged Gu Master had a solemn expression as he stretched out both arms to grab Kaiza.

"Trying to get me with this speed?" Kaiza showed a mocking expression.

The middle-aged man's limbs were covered by a thick rock skin, even Kaiza's nails could not penetrate. But the arms were really too heavy and slow. Fang Da felt that he could easily evade them.

"Really? Jade Wind Wheel!" The middle-aged Gu Master shouted, and suddenly a pair of jade-coloured cyclones circulated around his rock arm like armbands.

The rock arm's speed immediately rose!

"How can that be... urgh!" Kaiza's face was shocked as he was swept by the rock arm and flew away.

The middle-aged Gu Master was experienced in battle. If he had used the bee Gu Jade Wind Wheel from the start, Kaiza might not have fallen so easily.

Kaiza was sent flying by the rock arm, falling on the ground in a mess. The chest that was hit felt pain.

Puke.

He barely got up, but could not help but vomit blood.

"5% primeval essence left, I'm gonna die." He checked his aperture, laughing bitterly. Seeing Yami near him, he showed insane resolve on his face, "Even if I die, you will join me!"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

He ignored his injuries and rushed out.

"Block him!" The middle-aged Gu Master was a pure close-ranged fighter with no long range Gu, at once he could do nothing.

The old Gu Master had already arrived, his body's white hair turning into finger-sized spirals as they flew like nimble snakes, extending five to six metres and reached from behind, piercing Kaiza's body.

But Kaiza did not care, rushing out regardless.

"Die!" He screamed loudly, his ten fingernails already fifty centimetres long.

The middle-aged Gu Master chased after, and upon seeing this scene, his expression changed as he could no longer stop it.

Seeing that Kaiza was about to get his way, a bright blue jade light burst from the other side.

"Jade Skin Gu!" Under the pressure of life and death, Naruto screamed out loudly.

Immediately, his skin was covered by a sturdy layer of jade skin.

Kaiza's fingers were like knife blades, stabbing at him. Although the Love Life Separation did not have strong attacking ability, the Jade Skin Gu was only a Rank one Gu worm and could not block his nails.

Howl!

The elderly Gu Master seeing Naruto about to die, shouted frantically and his eyes expanded. Even more snow white needles shot out and pierced Kaiza's body.

After that, the needles worked like snakes, first piercing his back to his chest, the circulating around his neck, his arms and his legs.

Boiling blood poured from Kaiza's body, immediately dying the white hair red.

His entire body was covered by white hair, just like the wild boar who had fallen into a trap of green bamboo spikes, stopping his charge and being unable to move.

An intense feeling of dizziness hit him. Kaiza laughed pathetically, he knew that death was impending.

How unsatisfying!

His vision was dyed blur, and on his death moment, the most vivid memory in his life surfaced again.

"Midori..." He subconsciously called out his wife's name, as the knife on his hand pierced her body.

"Why?" His wife looked at Kaiza, her beautiful face showing confusion and shock, tightly staring at Kaiza's eyes.

Kaiza's eyes were red, as his body shivered, forcing out a word from his mouth, "Sorry."

His wife smiled slightly, her smile full of love. There was not a single drop of hate.

"I understand," She said.

She wanted to stretch out her right hand, touching Kaiza's face for the last time before she died.

But in the middle, her hand dropped.

Killing his wife for her heart, and refining Love Life Separation. From then on he had strength and went on the demonic path!

Do you have regrets?

From that day on, he constantly asked himself this.

I regret it!

He regretted so much that he would rather die, thus he swore that he had to protect the remaining family members of his!

But.

But…...

"If I could start from the beginning again, Midori, I would still do the same..." Emotional tears poured from Kaiza's red eyes.

Naruto stared at him, his body glowing with jade light.

From start to end, he was in deep confusion and suspicion.

An unfamiliar Gu Master rushed madly towards him, and wanted to tear him to bits. But Naruto did not know him.

Under the thick death aura, Naruto could not move an inch. His mind was blank as he only subconsciously activated the Jade Skin Gu.

Kaiza's nails pierced the jade skin and stabbed one centimetre in, but did not move anymore.

He died.

He was full of tears when he died.

"Its… over?" Naruto breathed roughly, his eyes losing focus and seemed rather hollow.

Then, a strong sense of dizziness overcame him.

Plop.

He also fell on the ground.

Love Life Separation, the strongest Rank two poison. Although it did not pierce through all the jade skin, the poison already invaded his body.

A wild boar almost as huge as an elephant was lying in the mudpit.

It closed its eyes shut, half kneeling and half lying, a pair of tusks clean from soil, shining like sharp blades.

The twilight reflected on its dark black fur, its huge stomach was white and with each breath, moved up and down creating a snorting sound.

Wild boar king!

Yami was several hundred meters away from it, but still carefully walked along with the direction of the wind.

"Even though I can kill wild boars now, against this wild boar king, I can only run away. Even an average Rank two Gu Master cannot kill it. If he is not clear of the Gu worms on its body, he might even fall prey to it.

King of the beasts normally have Gu worms inhabiting their bodies.

On the wild boar king's body, there would normally be Boar Gu, such as Pink Boar Gu or Flower Boar Gu. Other than the boar species, there might also be Beast Skin Gu or Spike Fur worm.

In this world, there are all sorts of Gu worms. Normally, Gu worms reside in the bodies of strong wild beasts, and live alongside the wild beasts.

When the wild beast gets attacked, the Gu worms will sense the danger and assist the wild beast in resisting the strong foe.

This wild boar king's body was huge, and its strength greatly exceeded the average wild boar. Yami was no match against it alone, not to mention there was at least one or more mysterious Gu worms in its body.

However, Yami's adventure this time, was not to kill the wild boar king. It was to avoid Kaiza's pursue.

Kaiza knew that Yami had the beast skin map, and Yami used that knowledge to his advantage. Going nowhere but instead heading towards the wild boar king's danger marking area.

The wild boar king although dangerous, was still a beast after all, and had no human intelligence. old Tazuna as a mortal, could venture to this place and retreat safely, so why couldn't Yami do the same?

Going on a reverse path, although seemingly dangerous, hid a way to survive instead.

As he moved even further, the wild boar king was slowly left behind by Yami. On the map, it would seem like Yami took a big circle and went around the red cross, forming a concave curve. Finally, he reached the hill where several clan elders were staying and having the mid-year assessment there on the spot.

An hour later, a youngster full of grass bits, his shirt torn in several areas and his feet full of mud, carried a bag and ran up the hill.

This pathetic looking youngster, was Yami.

"I'm finally safely back here. At this place, there are clan elders to protect me and my safety is assured. But I cannot afford to be careless." Yami sighed in relief, and slowly ascended the hill.

The hill had a simple tentage and tens of students were nearby as the academy's guards were collating the wild boar tusks in their bags. The few clan elders that were stationed here were missing, and only one was left.

"Why is the atmosphere so weird?" Yami frowned slightly, acutely feeling something important had occurred.

When he got near the tentage, he heard the students' discussions.

"Did you hear, there was an assassination earlier, and several Rank two Gu Masters died."

"Are you serious?"

"It's true, I came here early, and I saw Uzumaki Naruto carried away by several clan elders, hurrying away."

"Uzumaki Naruto is too unlucky, to encounter something like this during the exam."

"Hehe, you don't know huh. The target was Naruto, because he is A grade talent!"

"I wonder if he'll die?"

"Even if he doesn't die, he's gonna be affected. Maybe his talent might drop after that injury."

Yami's footsteps halted. He was clear in his heart, conjuring the truth of the matter.

"Kaiza wanted to deal with me and avenge his kin. But after I found the treehouse, I changed my route and went towards the wild boar king. Kaiza did not expect this and found Naruto by accident instead. His source of information came from those hunters and he did not know that I have a twin brother. He mistook Naruto as me and wanted to kill me, but was stopped by the surrounding Gu Masters who were protecting the area. Right now the question is — Did Kaiza die?"

Yami frowned tightly. Kaiza successfully escaping, Kaiza captured, Kaiza killed — these three possibilities would greatly affect his future plans and actions.

Thinking for a while, Yami decided to follow his original plan.

The academy elder's expression was ugly, Naruto was actually assassinated. Without any clues or evidence, he would not be able to guess that Naruto had become Yami's scapegoat, but thought of the Kiri clan and Iwa clan!

Naruto was the only A grade talent that the Konoha Clan had for the last three years, the Kiri clan and Iwa clan would naturally not let him grow. Sending an assassin Gu Master to kill him and prevent him from getting stronger, this was normal.

Even the Konoha Clan would do something like this. Secretly sending Gu Masters and targeting the other two clan's genius students.

"The assassin was killed on the spot, but I wonder how is Naruto's injuries?" Academy elder thought, and at this moment, his attendant brought him a piece of paper.

Academy elder received the paper, reading without paying proper attention, "In this year's examination, the results are as follows... Shino Aburame sixteen tusks, Kiba fourteen tusks..."

The surrounding students' attention were obtained. The results were clear.

D grade students, even if they worked together, they could only obtain three to four tusks. B and C grades, at most eight to nine. Those with more than ten tusks were the good performers.

The best was Shino Aburame with sixteen tusks. Next was Kiba, and as for Naruto he had ten.

Shino Aburame showed a smug expression. He was lucky this time and encountered two wild boars fighting each other, thus he got the easy reward. Kiba was indignant, allowing Shino to surpass him.

The academy elder announced, "As such, I announce the number one student for this examination is..."

"Halt!" Yami stepped out at this moment.

"Yami, you are late. The examination ended an hour ago, according to the rules, the wild boar tusks that you obtain will be deducted by four as punishment." Shino immediately shouted.

Yami ignored him and opened the bag on his back, grabbing the bottom of the bag and pouring out the contents.

Crash.

Dozens of wild boar tusks gathered into a pile by his feet.

"This!" Shino stared with his mouth agape.

Kiba and the others stared their eyeballs out at the pile.

"How can there be so many? This is too much!" The academy elder looked at Yami in disbelief, "Yami, did you hunt all these?"

Yami cupped his fists, "I only hunted a dozen tusks myself, but I found a bag that could've been hidden by hunters. Inside it were many wild boar tusks. I thought about it, the exam was that we had to obtain as many tusks as possible within a day, and did not specify that we have to kill it ourselves, thus I brought it here."

Once he finished, the crowd burst into discussions.

"How can this be?"

"Way too lucky!"

"This is too fake, could the questions have leaked thus he cheated?"

The academy elder stared at Yami, looking for a while, then declared, "This exam, Yami is the first."

...

The family head room's atmosphere was heavy.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the leading seat, and the other dozen elders sat in two rows beside him, their faces full of rage.

"Tsunade, you are the number one healer in our clan, I'm asking you how is Naruto now?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked a clan elder.

Tsunade was an old woman with a hunched back, her face full of treebark-like wrinkles.

She coughed twice, slowly saying, "Reporting to clan head, the situation has stabilized. Naruto's life is in no danger, but he is still sleeping. His talent did not drop because of this."

"Good if the talent didn't drop." Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief, the asked the punishment hall's elder, "Has the assassin's situation been assessed?"

The punishment hall elder did not have a high of a position as Tsunade, and immediately stood up, lowering his head, "Yes, thirty-five years old, male, identity unknown, possibly a demonic faction Gu Master. He has two Gu worms, Shadow Follower Gu and Love Life Separation."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, "Seems like an assassin, Love Life Separation… the Rank two number one poison, no wonder he could kill three of my Gu Masters."

"Clan head, we have to investigate further! It's either the Kiri clan or the Iwa clan!" Shibi Aburame shouted, his eyes almost bursting into flames.

"Shadow Follower Gu, Love Life Separation... this is not like the Kiri or Iwa clan's pawn pieces. He might be an outside demonic faction Gu Master, wanting to get affiliated with the clans, thus being instructed to assassinate Naruto to prove his loyalty. Regardless, this matter definitely has to do with the two clans," Inuzuka Gaku coldly said.

These two clan elders in power, although they did not get along, once an external enemy appears, they would discard their hatred and knit tightly together.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, thinking the same himself.

Kaiza had disappeared for three years, with no traces to be found. The villagers all thought of him to be dead, thus his identity became a mystery. The Konoha higher-ups did not know this, they would not be concerned with a servant's death. They placed all their attentions on the Iwa and Kiri clans.

At this moment, the academy elder walked in.

"Clan leader..." He looked worried and was about to speak when Hiruzen Sarutobi answered, "Academy elder, Naruto is fine, his talent is still A grade."

The academy elder's face became relaxed.

"Oh yes, are the other students safe? And for this examination, how are their results, which place is Naruto?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked conveniently.

The academy elder answered truthfully, and when he said that Yami had accidentally picked up a bag of wild boar tusks and got first place, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes shone.

The hall too went silent. The clan elders, as if they sensed it, subtly observed the atmosphere, and the originally nervous environment became slightly more peculiar.

In the discussion room, Hiruzen Sarutobi expressionlessly sat in the leader's seat with deep meaningful eyes.

The remaining dozen or so clan elders all sat upright, looking down, only using the corner of their eye to sweep the surroundings and discern some clues from their expressions.

The atmosphere became delicate.

"Yami getting first place, the deeper meaning behind this is definitely not simple. He actually said he found a bag of hidden wild boar tusks, this is too unbelievable."

"This bag might've been prepared by someone, it is not possible for Yami to do it himself. That means someone is helping Yami in the dark."

"This year's mid-year exam is unlike the previous ones. We had to deploy tens of Rank two Gu Masters to watch over the exam. Thus the contents of this examination, not only does the academy elder know, but many of the elders in the clan as well."

"If anyone wanted to prepare this bag in advance, it can only be the clan elders present here now, or even the clan leader!"

The clan elders were all shrewd foxes. After being in the political field for years, they immediately thought of many things.

Naruto was an A grade talent, if he really reached Rank four, what did that mean?

That would mean he is the next clan leader!

Yami is Naruto's brother. Even if he is only C grade, with that blood relationship, he is worth investing in!

To the clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi, if he helped Yami secretly, that would be bringing him into his faction, and to Naruto, it was a good belt to tie him to the leader faction together.

To the clan elders, Naruto who is the only A grade talent in years, has already been absorbed into the clan leader's faction. If he was really nurtured, the clan leader's faction would be even stronger. However, if the clan elders made Yami into their own, using this layer of blood relation, it would be a good chess piece when dealing in Naruto in the future.

Thus, the ten over people in this hall, they all had the motive to help Yami.

But who?

Shibi Aburame thought deeply, "I did not recruit Yami, so who would help him secretly? Is it Gaku that old man, hmm, possible. Although Yami killed his family servant, but that's just a servant, even if they all died it wouldn't hurt him. The clan leader is more possible though, he took in Naruto, so if he recruited Yami as well, that would increase his control over Naruto! But… in previous years, the norm is to recruit them during the year end exam. Taking his action now during the mid-year, it is breaking the rules."

"Not exactly breaking the rules, but it really is throwing a curveball. Just exactly who thinks highly of Yami, even more than me?" Inuzuka Gaku was also thinking.

The truth is, after Yami killed Akamaru and sent the minced corpse, he changed his impression of Yami and had the thoughts of recruiting him.

But such actions only happened during the year end, after the students graduated from the academy.

Yami being recruited in advance, it struck Gaku by surprise.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze was focused on Inuzuka Gaku and Shibi Aburame, the two elders in power.

This clan leader had greater insight.

Yami blatantly said a lie and got the first place. This action had the meaning of being fearless, thus sending a signal to everyone to show them that — I'm protecting Yami! He is now my member, and you all better not touch him.

Then who is this person?

The political field in the Konoha Clan was split into three. Other than the clan leader faction, it was Shibi Aburame's Aburame Family, and Inuzuka Gaku's Inuzuka Family.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that he himself did not take any actions to recruit Yami. Thus, the greatest suspect was Shibi Aburame and Gaku.

"These two old fellows, their acting is improving. Seeing their expressions, I really cannot tell. Don't tell me it really isn't them, but some other small faction?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi observed carefully as he investigated. He did not know that all the elders were like him, observing, suspecting and deducing.

The academy elder was also guessing, but he had always been in a neutral position, outside of politics, thus his thoughts were simpler, "So Yami has been recruited by a clan elder. No wonder he let go of Naruto, Kiba and Shino while extorting, that means the one who recruited him was either the clan leader, Shibi Aburame or Gaku. This is good news! It shows that he has accepted reality and has starting integrating into the clan. No matter what, he is now a member of the clan, so once he fully integrates, he will contribute his entire life to the clan!"

After a short silence, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not see any more clues, thus he spoke, "An eye for an eye, since the other party has started targeting Naruto, our Konoha Clan is not to be trifled with, we will show them! Dark Hall Elder, formulate a plan for this matter and report to me afterwards."

"Yes, sir clan leader." Dark hall elder immediately nodded.

"As for Uzumaki Naruto, I'm afraid his heart might be damaged from such an encounter. He is an A grade talent, and to our clan, the status is monumental. From now on, I will teach him personally." Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

No clan elders objected.

Many people knew that the clan leader had already given much benefits to Uzumaki Naruto in the dark. Now that he mentioned this, even though it violated the fairness rule, with sufficient reasoning, the clan elders could not stop him.

"As for Uzumaki Yami..." Hiruzen Sarutobi dragged his words.

At once, all the clan elders paid their fullest attention. Was the clan leader hinting that he was the one helping Yami secretly?

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at everyone's expression as his gaze swept through, but he was destined to be disappointed.

Thus, he could only continue, "With his C grade talent, he managed to get first place. It is not easy. Thus, in my personal name, I reward him thirty primeval stones. Academy elder, pass my word and tell him to continue working hard."

"Yes, clan leader." The academy elder bowed as he received his orders.

"Thirty primeval stones, such an ordinary reward, what does this mean?" The clan elders frowned.

"No matter who absorbed Yami, this thirty primeval stones is my expression of goodwill. After all, there is still the Kiri and Iwa clan other than Konoha." Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed in his heart.

Naruto was assassinated by external foes. Yami's cheating was internal conflict.

Against external foes, one had to use hard handed methods to retaliate, but for internal conflict, Hiruzen Sarutobi chose to use the soft approach, in order to avoid too much internal conflict and result in the entire clan's strength being weakened.

"Alright, this matter will be settled like this. Everyone may leave and do all your work well, the clan's prosperity has everything to do with your performances." Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand.

"Yes clan leader, we will take our leave."

The clan elders left one by one, and after a few breath's time, only Hiruzen Sarutobi was left in the room.

He sighed deeply, using his fingers to rub his two temples.

As the clan leader, even if he was the person with the most authority in the Konoha Clan, it did not mean that he had it easy. He needed to coordinate the interests of the different factions, and could not do as he wished. The clan's forces were dispersed and intertwined through many generations of inheritance, and they all had long history, restricting one another.

Against outside forces, he had to deal with the arrogant and rude Iwa clan village and the gradually rising Kiri clan village.

Internally, he had to resolve the complicated political conflict in the clan. Although he was middle-aged, he already had white hair all over.

"These years of being the clan leader, although I had sufficient resources, my cultivation has barely advanced. My heart is tired from all these tiresome clan affairs. Sometimes, I really want to be a lone cultivator, free and easy with no burden. That would allow me to move faster and I might travel even further in my cultivation path."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed in his heart.

As long as one is in the clan system, they had responsibilities on them. Once they had responsibilities it would not be easy to wholeheartedly cultivate.

But on the reverse, if one is not in the system, the clan's resources would not be available to them, and without resources, their cultivation would come to a halt.

This formed a contradiction, a weird loop.

Because of this loop, many people's futures were ruined, burying an insurmountable number of talents and geniuses.

Kaiza is dead.

Three days later, Yami got the news.

At the same time, he also heard from Jibei that the two young hunters vanished when hunting in the mountains. As for the hunter whose right hand was broken by Yami, he "committed suicide" in his home out of depression.

Jibei looked at Yami meaningfully when he said the news. He had seen Kaiza's corpse, thus recognising him.

But he did not dare to say Kaiza's true identity.

He was the stationed Gu Master, and held responsibility. As long as one is in the system, regardless of position, they had responsibility.

Kaiza became a demonic faction cultivator for three years, and Jibei as the village Gu Master did not investigate. If they really pursued responsibility, this would become the biggest flaw in his records, and his future in the clan would be ruined.

The three hunter's peculiar deaths were covered up by him.

"Yami, since we're acquaintances, from now on you get a 50% discount when you purchase things from my cousin brother Jiro's shop!" During one time, Jibei said this to Yami.

Everyone else was dead, only Yami and him knew of this matter. But if the matter was revealed, it did not have a huge impact on Yami.

He only killed three village servants, and even if he killed thirty, the clan would not pursue it, at most he would pay "tens of primeval stones" as a punishment.

Jibei's bribery, Yami took it with ease. To him, this matter was full of surprise and danger, but the result was good.

After this matter, Yami who had no foundation within the clan, received half an ally and also a non-existent faction supporting him.

This mysterious backer became Yami's second safety net. When he started showing his strength gradually, this safety net would have a crucial impact, at least able to allow him to cultivate until Rank two without much opposition.

At this point, he could feel clearly the academy elder's changing attitude towards him, into a more amicable one.

Over ten days passed in a flash.

After Uzumaki Naruto and Kiba advanced, Yami and Shino almost simultaneously advanced to Rank one upper stage successfully.

Although extortion continued, he no longer took Naruto, Kiba and Shino's primeval stones, and he started becoming more low key, while his strength grew rapidly at a speed multiple times of his previous life.

Time was like a white steed that flitted past a crack, and summer left with the arrival of autumn.

In the walled-in path, Yami stood once more before the giant boulder blocking the way.

Due to the weather growing colder, he wore plain and simple garment with long sleeves. But his body figure was no longer the thin sort like how it was a few months ago.

His chest, two arms and legs, and abdomen all showed obvious muscle.

These muscles were not as protruding as a stone, but it showed as a type of streamline, matching up with Yami's slowly growing body. Matched as well with his white skin, this gave others a type of youthful, full of vitality feeling.

"Starting from three days ago, the White Boar Gu stopped supplying me any increase in strength. That means, I already have one boar's strength, thus reaching the Flower Wine Monk's requirement. Today, I shall try pushing this round rock again!"

Yami's eyes shone as he took a step forward with his right leg, his left leg at the back, forming a bow step.

His arms touched the surface of the round rock as he took a deep breath in and pushed with all his strength.

The large boulder moved under the pressure of both his arms, moving slowly, gradually gaining momentum and rolling forward.

The road before the boulder blocking the path was an inclined slope. Being turned into a round rock by the Flower Wine Monk, it was most suitable for rolling. This must have been his intention, to allow the inheritor to push the boulder upwards and move it away.

"Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps..." Yami slowly progressed, counting in his heart, "Last week, I pushed it to forty-five steps and that was the limit of my stamina, forcing me to quit. This time, I wonder how far I can push it?"

Forty steps, forty-five steps…...

A while later, Yami broke his original record, but that was enough for him to feel unbearably tired.

Forty-six steps, forty-seven steps…...

Yami could feel strongly, at this point his stamina was almost all gone.

Forty-eight, forty-nine steps...

He mustered all his strength and moved another two steps. Finally, he was at his limit, sweating profusely. Using his shoulder and leg to anchor the rock in place, he took a few deep breaths.

"Should I give up?" Yami could not help but have such thoughts. This inclined slope, when returning he has to expend quite a bit of stamina as well. After all, the rock has to roll down and he had to slowly release it in the process.

If he let go and ran, the rock would roll faster and faster. Yami did not want to get turned into a pile of flesh after being unable to avoid it.

But thinking for a while, Yami felt indignant. Let's push it a few more steps.

Fiftieth step.

He suddenly felt that the pressure from the huge rock had lightened. It had actually rolled into a straight platform.

Yami pushed for a few more steps. After routing past the huge rock he found himself in a secret room.

This secret room was like the rock crack's secret cave. He temporarily named it the second secret room.

There was nothing in the room. The four walls were a strange red soil, glowing red. On the other end of the secret room, there was a simple grey-coloured rock door. It should be the hurried product of the Flower Wine Monk.

Yami rested for a while but did not immediately open the rock door, as he had a new discovery.

He found that the ground before the rock door was slightly damp.

"Don't tell me..." Yami had a thought. He bent down, stretching out both arms and loosening the soil.

The second Earth Treasury flower!

Yami laughed heartily, carefully peeling the flower petals and retrieving the Gu worm slumbering in the golden nectar.

Once he deployed his primeval essence, it was instantly refined.

This was a Jade Skin Gu. Its appearance was like the bedbug, flat and wide with a small head and its green body was oval in space, emitting a faint jade coloured glow.

"I obtained the White Boar Gu, and was still thinking where could I get a Jade Skin Gu so I could refine it into the White Jade Gu. To think that the Flower Wine Monk already prepared it for me," Yami contemplated, thinking about the significance of this Jade Skin Gu.

This is Yami's sixth Gu worm.

Although he had five already, none were defensive. Now that he had the Jade Skin Gu, he could cover up his weakness in defense.

At times, defense means offense.

This was not hard to understand. Taking for example Yami's body. Using the White Boar Gu, his strength grew to one boar's strength. Theoretically, with this strength, he could smash a rock in one punch, but Yami never did such a thing.

Because he knew his defense was not sufficient, so with one punch, the rock would break, but his fists would also turn bloody from the damage.

Now that he had the Jade Skin Gu, he could supplement the advantage he had in , there were advantages and disadvantages.

The Jade Skin Gu had a high value, being one of the best defensive Rank one Gu. It was not easy to feed, consuming two pieces of jade rock every ten days.

Jade rock's market price was expensive, and the source was often the problem.

Naruto also has a Jade Skin Gu, but he has the clan leader's backing, providing him with jade rocks. If Yami wanted jade rocks, he would have to buy them, and that could easily expose him.

"Originally in feeding the White Boar Gu, I had to regularly kill wild boars, and that is already troublesome. With the addition of this Jade Skin Gu, do I have to go dig in mines?" Yami laughed bitterly, seeing a new problem in front of him.

Keeping the Jade Skin Gu, temporarily nurturing it in his aperture, Yami gradually opened the rock door.

The rock door was heavy, and if Yami did not have the White Boar Gu's boost in strength, he would not be able to move it. But now, with Yami pushing it, the door slowly opened.

The scene that was revealed to Yami caused his field of vision to expand all of a sudden.

It was no longer a narrow tunnel or a secret room, but a large spacious plot of underground stone forest.

Yami estimated at initial approximation, the stone forest's size was over 50 miles!

"I should be inside Elemental mountain now, this underground space should be naturally formed." Yami looked up at the stone walls.

The stone walls in this space were over sixteen meters tall, and the ceiling was also made of stone.

From the top, there were large dark red pillars erected. Each emitted a faint red glow, and so did the walls, just like the tunnel and secret room. The light although dim, allowed Yami to see some things at least.

Yami looked far, and each stone pillar was like an upside down tree, except without branches, and only leaving the stem.

The stone pillar's surface was not smooth, and was full of dark eerie holes. Numerous pillars drooped down, forming an inverted stone forest within the mountain.

Nature had its way with things.

Yami with his immense knowledge, was not shocked, but stared at the dark holes in the pillars, frowning more intensely.

He had suddenly understood the Flower Wine Monk's intention in placing the Jade Skin Gu.

"If I am not wrong..." Yami turned his right hand, and out came a moonblade.

The eerie blue moonblade flew through the sky in an arc, precisely hitting a dark hole in the stone pillar.

A shrill and angry sound came from the dark hole.

With a 'swoosh', a grey monkey flew out from the cave and leapt towards Yami.

Pow pow pow.

Yami shot three moonblades.

The monkey was in midair and could not adjust its position, but its tail was extremely agile, sweeping several times and causing its body to flip in midair. After avoiding two moonblades, it was finally hit by the third, plopping on the floor dead.

It was dead, without a drop of blood.

Only its grey body turned to stone, and in a second, its flesh and blood body became a stone monkey statue.

The statue's posture and facial expression was just like the monkey right before it died, imitated to perfection. After two breath's time, the stone monkey's surface cracked, and cracks developed all over its body. Finally with a boom, its entire figure blew up into tiny rock fragments.

"It really is an underground colony of jade eye stone monkeys." Yami knelt down, sweeping the fragments aside and taking out two jade green yellow pearls. These two pearls were the jade eye stone monkey's eyes.

This strange animal would turn into grey rock fragments once dead, and only its eyes would turn into two jade green spherical pearls. Each were very heavy, reaching at least fifty grams.

This meant that as long as he killed jade eye stone monkeys, the Jade Skin Gu's food problem would be resolved.

"I not only have to feed the Jade Skin Gu, I also have to continue the inheritance. Flower Wine Monk's next clue should be hidden in this stone forest.

Yami frowned. Things had become complicated.

He tried taking a few steps forward, his eyes peeled to the stone pillar.

On his seventh step, on the pillar closest to him, numerous jade-coloured glowing eyes could be seen peeking out of the stone holes.

At once, a drop of sweat fell from Yami's forehead.

He quickly took a step back, and the numerous eyeballs in the dark holes faded.

Evidently, each pair of eyeballs meant a jade eye stone monkey. The jade eye stone monkey was terribly agile, and to kill one Yami had to use four moonblades.

On a stone pillar, there were at least a hundred jade eye stone monkeys, and in the entire forest, who knew how many were there in total.

With Yami's current strength, he would die from being attacked by four monkeys. If he included the Jade Skin Gu's defense, Yami could deal with twelve monkeys at once at most.

Thankfully, these monkeys usually slept in their dark holes and ate rocks when they were hungry or thirsty. The stone pillar was their home and food. Unless he got within ten meters of them or provoked them purposely, they would not come out.

Using earth's words, they were a bunch of neet monkeys.

The autumn wind rustled through the air, while the red leaves drifted aimlessly.

The wild grass was dried yellow, and brilliant red or orange yellow wild fruit hung from the tree branches.

"Hurrumph!" A black coloured wild boar rushed madly with its four hooves on the ground, its mane pricking up.

There was a thick layer of fallen leaves that accumulated on the surface of the mountain.

As the wild boar rushed forward, a gust of wind was wedged between it, and the fallen leaves were sent dancing behind its body.

Yami silently stood there, showing a cold calculating expression as the wild boar got closer.

Kill!

He took a huge stride forward, and then both his legs stood firm, not dodging at all, facing the wild boar head on.

The wild boar's two snow white tusks tore through the air with overwhelming killing intent.

Yami turned his body to avoid the tusks, his shoulder knocking onto the wild boar's skull.

When they were about to collide, Yami's shoulder shone with a faint green coloured light.

Jade Skin Gu!

Boom.

With a loud crash, the two collided.

Yami took three steps back, while the wild boar took one step back.

To be fair, when comparing both side's strength, Yami was stronger. But Yami ran with both legs while the wild boar used four to sustain its force, and at the same time the center of gravity of the wild boar was lower and more stable than Yami.

However, after being harshly hit on the head by Yami, although the wild boar was still standing, its fat body was already wavering.

With a roar, Yami rushed up again, his left hand grabbing the wild boar's tusk, his right hand raising high in the air, the light green colour jade glow forming a thin layer of protection covering his fist.

Bam.

His fist crashed strongly downwards and the wild boar screamed in pain, struggling intensely.

Yami's muscles on his left arm tensed, and the green veins popped like centipedes encircling his arm as he restrained the wild boar with all his strength.

At the same time, his right fist continued to raise and slam down on the boar.

Bam bam bam.

Every time his fist hit the wild boar's head, the green coloured glow on his fist would shine once.

The wild boar was smashed into oblivion by the fist, and its struggle became weaker.

"Last strike!" Yami's eyes glowed like lightning. He loosened his upper body, his right arm stretching straight and raised to the highest point, before smashing down at full force.

The green coloured jade light stuck to Yami's right arm and following his movement, drew a green arc in the air.

Bam.

Yami knelt on the ground on one knee, his elbow harshly whacking the wild boar's skull. Even before the wild boar could cry out, its noise came to a stop.

An entire pig head turned deformed, the broken white skull pierced through the black skin, exposing outside. Fresh blood and brain matter slowly flowed out, and in the layers of leaf litter, it infected an area of bright redness.

The autumn wind blew.

Leaves flew about as the scent of the pig blood emanated.

"Life, is splendid just like the flowers of summer. Death, is as delicate as the leaves of autumn," Yami muttered, appreciating this frame of scenery.

The survivor lives brilliantly while the dead is lonely and pitiful.

Dead or alive, filled with intense difference, it reflected nature's cruelness and the excitement of life.

"No matter the world, the victor always gets all the fame, while the loser suffers defeat in the unrelentless world. Victory and loss, to me means life and death. Because I walk on the demonic path, once I lose, it means death awaits."

Yami got close to the corpse and sat on the ground, taking out the White Boar Gu, letting it consume the meat while his consciousness entered the aperture in his body.

Within the aperture, the black green-coloured primeval sea's tides turned and crashed, ebbed and flowed.

When the primeval sea is full, it occupied 44% of the space. After an intense battle, Yami used the Jade Skin Gu multiple times to raise his defense, and some primeval essence was expended, thus there was only 36% primeval essence left.

Counting the amount, he only used 8%, not even 10% of his total. But because this was the Rank one peak stage black green primeval essence, the expenditure was considered large.

Rank one initial stage is jade green primeval essence.

Rank one middle stage is pale green primeval essence.

Rank one upper stage is dark green primeval essence.

Rank one peak stage is black green primeval essence.

The essence was in concentration (the relative amount of a particular substance contained within a solution or mixture or in a particular volume of space.).

The Moonlight Gu's activation required 10% of jade green primeval essence, and in terms of pale green primeval essence, it was 5%. For dark green primeval essence, it further halved, and the same went for black green primeval essence.

That is to say, 10% of black green primeval essence, was equivalent to 20% dark green, 40% pale green and 80% jade green primeval essence.

Using the Jade Skin Gu cost 8% black green primeval essence, if converted to initial stage jade green primeval essence, it would be 64%!

If Yami was still at initial stage, his aperture would only have 44% primeval essence, and halfway through using the Gu, his primeval essence would be completely expended.

"The higher the Gu Master's cultivation, the stronger their battle strength, and this shows in the primeval essence. The higher the stage, the darker the colour of the primeval essence, and the more durable it is. My black green primeval essence was on the basis of upper stage primeval essence, refined by the Liquor worm. It is unlike Naruto, who is already Rank one peak stage cultivation already." Thinking of this, Yami's gaze shone.

Time flies, it is already late autumn.

Two months had passed since Kaiza's attempted assassination.

Naruto was poisoned and was in comatose for seven days and seven nights. Once he woke up he was like a changed man, very hardworking and also cultivated extremely people say, difficulties in life was wealth just like gold.

Regardless of whether this saying is correct, Naruto did emerge from this difficulty changed and obtained much experience. He was like a raw jade, and after some polishing, he finally showed the beautiful jade quality inside.

He was the first to advance to upper stage, and not long ago, he was the first to advance to peak stage, leaving his classmates in the dust. The advantages of an A grade talent has finally started showing.

"I am not far from peak stage either, at most half a month. In fact, I have been nurturing my aperture nonstop every day, but a C grade talent really cannot compete with A and B grades, and I also have another reason..." Yami laughed bitterly without sound as he thought of it.

Once in a few days, he would have to kill jade eye stone monkeys to feed the Jade Skin Gu. At the same time, he had to search inside the stone forest to find the next clue of the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.

The stone forest was complicated with pillars of huge rocks drooping from the ceiling. If Yami was not careful and got too close to any pillar, he would trigger the attack of all the stone monkeys.

A few times, he was chased by tens of stone monkeys and had to escape. The most dangerous time, when retreating he stepped into another pillar's territory, and ended up having up to a hundred monkeys chasing after him.

Luckily, these monkeys were sedentary, and every time they chased after him, they would not chase too far. After a distance, they would go back to their homes and continue being sedentary.

Even so, Yami walked on the brink of death several times. During crucial times, the Jade Skin Gu's defense came into good use.

Such investigation and exploration caused Yami to devote much time and effort, and thus became the key reason why his cultivation was advancing so slowly.

"Even so, this is way better than my previous life. The stone forest exploration is not without results either. At least I already know that the walls around the forest have no problems. That means that the next clue of the strength inheritance, should be somewhere in the forest."

Yami continued thinking, but suddenly a shadow stepped over the dried branches and got close.

This is a wandering old wolf.

It had a brown fur coat, limping and had one eye was damaged. Only the danger and alertness of its left eye remained.

It stared at Yami tightly, its nose twitching. Wolves and dogs were the same, using their keen sense of smell, it must have been attracted by the pig blood.

Wolves were often in packs, but there were also lone wolves like this. There were competition in wolf packs as well, and to maintain the atmosphere in the pack, they would sometimes get rid of those crippled old wolves.

Yami quickly stood up and silently looked at this old wolf.

Back then when he killed a wild boar, there would be little primeval essence left in his body and that caused his fighting strength to greatly reduce. Thus when he encountered other wild beasts, he would choose to avoid them.

But these few months, his battle strength had increased tremendously, and with the Jade Skin Gu, against a crippled wolf, it was more than enough.

The unrestrained mountain trees were everywhere with their red leaves.

The setting sun illuminated the dark hour.

A person and a wolf distanced fifty steps away, silently observed each other.

In the wolf's eye, green light shone as it showed a cruel and cunning expression. Yami's eyes however, were dark and eerie, his black iris emanating chilling intent.

The White Boar Gu came out. It was full and returned to Yami's aperture satisfied.

The old wolf looked at the wild boar, it had only bones and skin left, the meat was all eaten by the White Boar Gu.

The wolf's eyes shone with green light and contracted. It first took a few steps back, then jumped into the bushes.

This wolf was still alive till today, it definitely had some intelligence. It keenly felt Yami's danger, and decided to retreat.

Its entry and exit were both fast and abrupt.

Without the wild boar's crashing sound, and without the tiger's growling.

Against Yami, without a sound, the battle had started and ended.

"The main theme of life and death, such excitement born from great nature." Yami stood on the spot, and did not give chase. This wolf did not have anything worth Yami's attack.

Aiiee!

But the next moment, the old wolf's crying was heard.

The wolf's howling suddenly erupted and ended suddenly. Even so, there was a thick surge of death aura overflowing.

Crack crack.

In the bush, there were sounds of twigs being stepped on.

The sound was fearless and got closer, causing Yami's iris to shrink.

"Able to get rid of that sneaky old wolf in a second..." His gaze became more and more chilly.

The footsteps got closer, and soon the dark green trees at the side of the slope were forcefully separated. A tall man stepped forward, appearing in Yami's vision.

He had black short hair, each strand standing straight up. The upper half of his body was naked. He had a large and thick body, the entirety of his body muscles bright red colour.

He was almost two meters tall, and during the cold autumn, he gave off the feeling of a mobile cauldron, his every breath able to raise the surrounding temperature.

On his waist, several wild beast corpses were hanged. There were foxes, wild rabbits and chickens, not to forget the old wolf who had just left.

Seeing Yami, he was slightly shocked, but quickly took large steps and walked past Yami.

" Torune Aburame." Seeing the large man's back leaving, Yami thought of his name.

He was a representative of the Aburame Faction, having Rank two upper stage cultivation. His experiences were similar to Yami even.

This person was also very talented, having very great strength from young. At ten he accidentally beat a family servant to death, and at twelve he could hold a heavy stone grinder and played it like a frisbee.

Back then, the family all thought well of him, thinking he was an A grade. But during the awakening ceremony, they tested that his talent was only B grade.

He had an originally wild and untamable nature, looking down on everyone. But he quickly changed after this experience, becoming more mature. Even with B grade talent, he was the top student in his level.

After a year of studying, he graduated from the academy and fought his way to the top. Years later, he had already become an elite among the clan's Rank two Gu Masters.

Happiness cannot teach a person life's true meaning, while only pain and suffering can.

"In the clan, a youngster attends the awakening ceremony at fifteen and enters the academy. At sixteen, they graduate from the academy and form a five person group and complete the clan's missions, at the same time inheriting the family fortune. From sixteen, they will fight and compete while continually raising their cultivation. As the missions get more dangerous, their status will also increase. Some die and some live. Some get injured, and their cultivation level drops, living a plain life thereafter. Some become a Rank three Gu Master after all the hardship and advance to clan elder, being one of the higher-ups."

Yami's gaze shone, thinking of many things.

The more a Gu Master cultivates, the harder it gets, and advancing becomes way more difficult. Coupled with dangerous and tough living environment, those that can advance to Rank three are few to none.

"Speaking of which, it is almost winter. That means I've spent almost a year at the academy. Each year there are two examinations. The first is the mid-year exam, with different contents each year. The second is the year end exam, and the contents never change, being arena fights. After the arena fight, I would no longer be able to stay at the hostel, and I would need to move out."

Move out, but stay where?

Yami could not live with his aunt and uncle, which was what they wanted.

In this world, sixteen meant adulthood, the age to start reproduction. Coupled with Yami's numerous secrets, he needed to live independently.

"In my previous life, after leaving the academy I was only Rank one middle stage. This time, the situation is much better, I would be Rank one peak stage by then. But with a C grade talent, coming this far is really an achievement. Although it had its costs, expending much of my primeval stones."

Yami's eyebrows raised, he did not have many primeval stones left.

Restricted by his talent, the primeval stones he expended for cultivation was much more than Naruto, Shino or Kiba.

He raised six Gu worms by himself!

Furthermore, the Liquor worm's refinement, nurturing the aperture, using the White Boar Gu to increase strength — they all needed primeval essence. After the primeval essence was used up, with a C grade recovery speed, it could not satisfy his needs, so he could only use primeval stones and retrieve the natural essence within to replenish.

Luckily he had the Spring Autumn Cicada, and also retrieved two Gu from Earth Treasury Flowers, thus refining Gu worms did not expend much of his primeval stones. This made him feel slightly better.

But after this when he leaves the academy, he needs to rent a house and get some income.

After peak stage, it was to push for Rank two. This process would spend a lot of primeval stones.

After Rank two, he still had to combine Gu worms, and each combination attempt was a hefty cost.

With all these factors, he was even clearer that his financial situation could no longer support him. Furthermore, he still had to continue feeding his Gu worms and continue cultivating.

If it wasn't for the mid year exam where he used the wild boar tusks to exchange for quite some primeval stones and alleviated the pressure, he would not have survived till now.

"Primeval stones, primeval stones... the Flower Wine Monk did not give any primeval stones in his inheritance, what a shame. Extorting my classmates is still my most important source of income. But after graduating, the academy's allowance would stop, and I cannot continue extorting. But if I get first for the year end exam, I can get a hundred and fifty primeval stones as reward," Yami contemplated in his heart.

If he could get first place, the hundred and fifty primeval stones would alleviate his financial difficulty for a while.

...

Time flies, autumn leaves and winter comes.

On the arena in the academy, three stages had already been built.

Beside the stage, near the bamboo walls of the arena, there were tents and long tables and chairs.

The academy elder, clan leader and a few other clan elders were sitting below the tentage cover.

There was a little snow in the sky.

Fifty-seven students stood straight on the arena. Each of their noses were bright red from the weather, and every breath they took had steam coming out of their noses.

The academy elder spoke loudly, "In a flash a year has ended. During this year you were trained in the academy and have started to grasp the qualities of a Gu Master. Tomorrow, you will have the year end examination to test the fruits of your hard work! Not only will the clan leader and clan elders come personally to watch, your family elders and seniors will also come to observe to pick excellent performing students to join their small teams."

"Your performances tomorrow, will to a large extent affect your future. Getting first place, not only is it a hundred and fifty primeval stones, but you also get an advantage in picking Gu worms! Now, start the final cultivation check in your academic life!"

Saying so, the academy elder nodded to a Gu Master beside him.

The female Gu Master received the instructions and called out the name from the list, " Tenten!"

A young girl walked towards the Gu Master with a nervous expression.

The Gu Master stretched out her hand, touching the young girl's abdomen. She closed her eyes to feel, then opened her eyes and declared, " Tenten, Rank one middle stage. Next, Moegi."

One after another, youngsters went up to check. Then they walked back down and returned to the group.

Their expressions varied, some were happy while others were upset.

The worst result was naturally Rank one initial stage, all being the D grade talents.

A large number of the students were Rank one middle stage, and little of them were B grade, mostly C grades.

"Shino Aburame." The middle-aged female Gu Master called.

From the group, the shortest Shino Aburame puffed his chest and walked out.

After checking, the female Gu Master opened her eyes, "Shino Aburame, Rank one peak stage!"

Up till now, this was the first Rank one peak stage Gu Master.

The clan elders present turned their heads.

Some elders recognised, saying lightly, "This is Shibi Aburame's grandson, having B grade talent, no wonder."

Outside the tent, the youngsters also commented.

"Shino is Rank one peak stage, I wonder if Kiba is too? They are rivals after all."

"Being able to advance to peak stage, they are all A and B grades. Sigh, we C and D grades encounter bitterness that cannot be envied."

"Hmph!" Kiba snorted, seeing Shino's proud expression, he was annoyed.

Uzumaki Naruto clenched his fists, his lips tightly shut, as if he was stifling in his emotions.

"Kiba." Soon, the examiner called.

The horse-faced Kiba quickly walked out.

"Kiba, Rank one peak stage." With this declaration, he walked back and stared defiantly at Shino Aburame when returning.

The examination continued, and the snow in the sky became smaller, until it vanished.

The cold chilly air was rather refreshing.

"Uzumaki Yami." The middle-aged female Gu Master called.

Yami walked up expressionlessly.

Soon after, she opened her eyes, looking at Yami in shock, before declaring, "Uzumaki Yami, Rank one peak stage!"

"Rank one peak stage, did I hear wrongly? Yami cultivated to this level?" The youngsters were shocked.

"Sigh, he's just lucky, having the Liquor worm to nurture his aperture. Even against the A and B grades, with his C grade he isn't at a disadvantage." Some youngsters said with envy.

Especially those C grade talents, they sourly said to console themselves, "This isn't much. The Liquor worm cannot refine Rank two primeval essence, Yami would no longer have such an advantage anymore."

"Even if he is peak stage, he is still a C grade, this is of no concern to us." Kiba and Shino stared at Yami, but quickly turned their attention to Naruto, who was still waiting for his turn.

In their hearts, only the A grade talent Naruto was a competitor.

"Brother, you've caught me by surprise. But from now on, watch carefully..." Naruto looked at Yami walking down, his eyes shone and revealed an anticipating expression.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The female Gu Master finally said.

"The A grade talent?" The clan elders focused their attention to Naruto.

Naruto walked out from the crowd, he could feel the pressure that these gazes were bringing him, causing him to become slightly nervous.

But when he saw the clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile, the nervousness in his heart melted.

He walked in front of the female Gu Master.

She shut her eyes, and then abruptly opened her eyes, saying in shock, "Uzumaki Naruto, cultivation level — Rank two initial stage!"

Boom.

The youngsters erupted into a wave of discussions.

"What, he reached Rank two?!"

"As expected of the A grade talent genius."

"Incredible, he left Kiba, Shino, and Yami in the dust."

"This Naruto!" At once, Kiba and Shino stared at Naruto in shock.

"Hehehe, actually higher than in my previous life..." Yami's eyelids drooped down as he laughed. He was not surprised, and after observing Naruto's expression earlier, he could guess the result.

"A grade talent after all."

"The hope of our clan."

"This is the credit of clan leader's nurturing..."

The clan elders praised.

At once, Naruto became the center of attention.

Half a year ago, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a Jade Skin Gu and asked him to be the first person to advance to Rank two. He did it!

"Clan leader, I did not disappoint you, I did it! From now on, I will achieve even more, getting the approval of the clan elders and the people around me. Brother, I've left you behind, you are no longer the shadow in my heart. I, Uzumaki Naruto, am no longer the one from back then!"

Naruto yelled in his heart, his eyes shining with a kind of brilliance.

This brilliance, is called confidence!

The sun was bright after the snow passed.

Gu Masters streamed into the academy in the morning.

"The annual year end exam has begun again. Hehehe, I wonder if the scene I saw from more than a decade ago when I graduated will be seen again." A middle-aged Gu Master with long green hair cascading down his back stood outside the academy, reminiscing.

"Leader, get in, you love reminiscing." The young female Gu Master beside him had blood red hair, her hands placed in the pockets of her pants. There was a blade of grass in her mouth, and she rolled her eyes.

"Hehehe, Mito, don't rush. We have to get in anyway. Since the clan leader had arranged it already, our new members have been decided long ago." The green haired Gu Master laughed.

"The A grade talent Naruto?" The female Gu Master Mito tutted in her mouth, saying unhappily, "The clan leader's idea is to get us to babysit him!"

"But this babysitting mission is not easy to accomplish." The green haired male Gu Master sighed, "Nevermind, let's go in."

As time passed, more and more Gu Masters entered the academy doors, and stood in the arena.

These were male and female Gu Masters. There were young faces, middle-aged, and old people as well.

Gu Masters after graduating would come out and form small teams to complete the clan missions. The Gu Masters that came to the arena were all the representatives of their groups, to assess the performances of the students and absorb them into their own teams.

To the small groups, this was injecting fresh blood and expanding their group.

To the newly joined members, under the guidance and teaching of the older members, they can swiftly adapt to the new environment and more effectively complete the clan missions and result in lesser deaths.

The sun gradually rose, as the students entered the fray.

"So many people today." The youngsters proclaimed.

"Quickly see, that is Lord Hashirama. He is our Konoha Clan's number one person among the Rank two, and he is known for his mild and amiable temper." A person pointed at the green haired male Gu Master and shouted.

"Senior Torune Aburame is here too."

"That is the Inuzuka Family's little miss Hana!"

Hashirama, Torune Aburame, and Hana were the rising stars of the Gu Masters, known by all students.

"Sigh, their teams are too hard to get in. I am only D grade, and my vital Gu is a Gentle Silk Spider, I am meant to be a support staff." A youngster sighed, then asked his friend, "You?"

"Oh, I got it settled with relationships. Through the godson of my uncle's cousin's sister."

...

As the students observed the Gu Masters, Hashirama, Torune Aburame and Hana also observed the students.

"Oh? There are two Uzumaki Narutos." Mito saw Yami and Naruto, shouting out subconsciously.

The green hair male Gu Master Hashirama helplessly sighed, "Did you see the information I gave you yesterday? Naruto has a twin brother, they look very similar in appearance, but his brother is only C grade talent."

"Oh so that's the case. I seem to have heard that the one who made poems when he was young was Yami? Are we getting him into the team?" Mito patted her forehead with her palm, saying whatever she thought of.

Hashirama shook his head, "The clan leader specifically mentioned, do not recruit him. He seems to be wanting to observe something. The brothers don't have a good relationship anyway. Even if we want to recruit him, Yami probably wouldn't join."

Mito did not think much of it, muttering, "Among the groups, we are the publically acclaimed number one, joining us means a bright future. Any student would be interested. How could he be unwilling?"

Hashirama laughed lightly, "That's because you don't know him, look at the information I sent you first."

At this time, the clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the authoritative clan elders Shibi Aburame and Inuzuka Gaku entered, getting into the seats under the tentage.

"Not only the clan leader, but also Lord Shibi Aburame and Lord Kiba are attending this year."

Seeing this, not only the students but also the Gu Masters were excited, this did not happen in previous years.

"Nothing strange, Shibi Aburame and Gaku's grandsons are all in this year's class."

"Naruto is the clan leader's successor, the hope of the future to go against Haku. The clan leader naturally has to observe carefully."

Discussions were aplenty among the people.

"Perform well brother." Hana looked at Kiba among the people, silently praying in her heart. Her group had the most people, it was of the largest scale. Thus there were a bunch of Gu Masters around her, showing her imposing aura.

As her most intense rival, Torune Aburame from the Aburame Faction was standing alone, his huge figure easily acting like a giant red tower in a sea of people, standing out extensively.

After checking out Shino, he retracted his vision.

With a speech from the clan leader, the year end exam began.

The three stages held fights at the same time.

At once, shouting noises, sounds of moonblades flying, and the sounds of punches and kicks as well as the discussions of the Gu Masters below the stages fused into a loud banter.

"This year's physical fighting skills is high." Soon, Mito saw the difference.

"Hehehe, all thanks to Yami." Hashirama laughed.

"What do you mean?" Mito did not understand.

Hashirama explained to her.

Mito exclaimed in shock after listening, "Yami this lad, he's really daring, almost to the point of fearless. Hehehe, bullying even his own brother. This is interesting."

She looked towards Yami and Naruto from the crowd, thinking internally — Which is the elder brother and which is the younger one.

"Next, Tenten against Kiba." On the arena, the hosting Gu Master shouted.

Kiba leapt upwards, and Tenten walked up the stage with a serious expression.

The two paid respects to each other and said no more, fighting at once. Moonblades danced in the air.

The two continued to shoot and at the same time, moving and evading nonstop.

Although a girl, Tenten had good basic skills and was able to fight equally with Kiba for a while. But as time passed, her stamina could not keep up, and she started to be suppressed.

Finally, with her body full of sweat and having no energy left, she surrendered.

Kiba on the other hand was not even fazed.

"Increasing endurance Gu huh, probably the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle Gu..." Below the stage, Yami observed, quickly seeing through Kiba.

Yami had six Gu worms, but that was an exception. Among the people of his age, they all had one or two Gu worms.

Not only because of the financial stress of feeding Gu worms, but also because the Gu worm's usage needed constant practice to accumulate experience.

Greed for more would backfire. The students only started interacting with Gu worms, and just began on their cultivation journey. Two Gu worms were enough for them to practice.

Only an exception like Yami with his rich experience from his previous life, could easily grasp every Gu worm that comes into possession and use them to the very best he can.

The exam continued.

"Damn, jumping like a rabbit!" On another stage, a youngster angrily shouted, "Shino Aburame, you're not a man, do you dare to fight with me physically?!"

"Tsk, only a fool would fight close range with you." On the stage, Shino Aburame laughed in disdain. He used the Scarlet Pill Cricket Gu and jumped around, his body being very agile.

His opponent only had a Flower Boar Gu. Even if he could temporarily raise his strength by one boar, it was useless. Shino would not go hand to hand with him.

Finally, he got hit by a moonblade from Shino and lost too much blood, retiring from the fight.

The healing Gu Masters below the stage quickly rushed up and treated his injuries.

As time passed, more and more students were mercilessly eliminated, and many youngsters also started to show their abilities.

Shino, Kiba, Yami, Naruto…...

Until noon.

The D grade talents were all eliminated. They had limited talent and all chose support-type Gu worms for production line or transport, which suited their lives. Thus, they had little help in battles.

"Little junior sister, your vital Gu is a Life Breath Grass right, my group needs a healer Gu Master."

"Senior, I wish to join your group, my vital Gu is a Moonlight Gu."

"Sorry, we are not lacking any attack-type Gu Master."

...

The small groups quickly recruited newbies, and the students also chose the groups they wanted.

The fights on the stage did not have much visual appeal, and after a few rounds, there were not many highlights, it was even boring. This was because most people chose the Moonlight Gu, and to most people, the fight would start with shooting moonblades. Whoever expended their primeval essence first would lose.

If both parties had no more primeval essence, they would fight with punches and kicks. At the end, one will fall.

Be it students, Gu Masters, or clan elders, they got bored watching and some were about to fall asleep.

Until evening, there were only less than ten students left on the stage.

"Finally ending." Some Gu Masters lifted their spirits, shrugging off the sleepiness.

At this moment, the Gu Master shouted, "Next round, Uzumaki Naruto vs Kiba!"

Naruto and Kiba both walked up the stage.

"Naruto, don't think that I will lose just because you have Rank two cultivation! Today I will challenge and beat a higher realm." Kiba gritted his teeth, his expression solemn, cheering for himself in his heart. Against the Rank two Naruto, he indeed felt a strong sense of pressure.

"Come." Naruto roared, rushing out ferociously.

Kiba's heart jumped, this Naruto wasn't acting according to plan. Normally, they would first shoot moonblades before using hand to hand combat. But this time, he actually rushed up immediately, and wants to fight physically?

"Isn't he afraid of getting injured by my moonblade when exchanging punches and kicks?" Kiba was perturbed.

He was naturally not worried for Naruto's safety, but knew that if they engaged in close combat, with such a short distance if Naruto shot a moonblade, it was unavoidable.

Kiba quickly took a step back, attempting to pull some distance. At the same time, he shot out a moonblade with a flick of his wrist.

Naruto was unfazed, taking a tumble and avoiding the moonblade, continuing his pursuit. At the same time, a lump of lunar energy collected in his palm.

Kiba looked at the moonlight in his hands that hasn't been fired and felt tense in his heart, quickly taking steps back.

Although he worked hard in close combat and also trained his moonblade, he was still inferior to Naruto who was nurtured personally by the clan leader.

Kiba was not suited to this style of combat, and quickly fell into disadvantage.

"Eh? That side is interesting." The battle on this arena attracted much attention.

"They're actually fighting so closely, this Naruto has guts." Mito could now discern who is Yami and Naruto. Yami had a cold expression and emitted an aura of maturity, while Naruto was steel-willed, radiating a sunny aura.

"It must be the clan leader's teaching. Normally when students fight, they would be ten meters apart. Further than this distance and the moonblade would dissipate. If they fought closer than this distance, the students would not react in time." Hashirama's gaze shone, "Naruto's battle distance now has shrunk to six meters, but his ability to avoid the moonblade is proficient. It seems that not only is the clan leader helping Naruto, but Naruto also put in some hard work and went through much hardship."

"Little brother!" Hana seeing Kiba forced into a corner by Naruto, showed worry and panic on her face. She really wanted to go in and help out, giving Naruto a good beating.

Torune Aburame however was expressionless, only watching and not speaking. After Naruto got close to Kiba and shortened the distance to six meters, he no longer got closer, but used the Moonlight Gu and entered a firing contest.

Kiba tried hard to improvise. His actions were in a mess, and many times he was almost hit by the moonblades, constantly in danger.

Naruto on the other hand, already had his winning formula.

Even if he could not evade in time, he still had the Jade Skin Gu, and as long as he uses the jade green glow in time, he would be able to block the moonblade.

Seeing how Kiba was defenselessly beaten by himself, Naruto's thoughts flew back to a time in the past.

Under the moonlight, the clan leader taught him the evasion movements step by step, unreservedly imparting him all the experience he had.

"Clan leader, I will not let you down." Naruto's eyes shimmered with hope, he was getting braver as he fought!

"Naruto, you have the talent and the endurance, studiously training. The result is all because of your blood and sweat. This is the fruits of your hard work, continue like this, Naruto. Using this aura, go and show your brilliance!" Under the tentage, the clan leader excitedly cheered on inwardly, even though he looked like he was quietly watching the fight, his lips curled into a smile.

Although Kiba struggled furiously, resisting adamantly, but after fifteen minutes, his entire body was full of injuries, the blood oozing out and dyeing his shirt red.

The organizing Gu Master, upon seeing such a scene, announced, "The victory goes to Uzumaki Naruto."

"I haven't lost yet!" Kiba shouted loudly, his entire bloodbathed body wavering in the air. But after struggling to no end, he was forced to receive treatment by the healing Gu Masters.

"A battle of such an intensity is already beyond the graduating standard."

"An A grade talent, is after all a genius."

"I heard he received personal guidance from the clan leader, can he not be amazing?"

Seeing such a result, the Gu Masters below the stage praised endlessly.

Uzumaki Naruto panted as he walked down the stage. Three Gu Masters came to him and healed him, while also providing free primeval stones to allow him to quickly recover his primeval essence.

After resting for a while, he recovered to his peak condition and ascended the stage again.

This time, he was against Shino Aburame.

Shino looked at Naruto, laughing dryly, "Very good! Naruto, you defeated Kiba that rascal, if I defeat you now, it would be killing two birds with one stone."

He seemed very confident.

Naruto's lips remained tight, as he said nothing but rushed towards him.

"Dragonpill cricket Gu!" Shino's thought flashed, and immediately an orange red-coloured glow came from both his legs. He leapt lightly and instantly retreated ten meters away.

The distance that Naruto had just shortened was immediately lengthened.

"Hehehe." Shino got smug and laughed, "Naruto, you have no speed increasing Gu, and with your two legs, you cannot catch me. Although this stage isn't big, it is enough for me to manoeuvre. Your tactic might have worked on Kiba, but against me it is ineffective."

"Is that so?" Naruto stopped his movements and stood on the spot, staring intently at Shino.

He smiled, his eyes showing iron will, shouting loudly, "Continue dodging like that, but everytime you use the Dragonpill cricket Gu, you have to use a certain amount of primeval essence. You have merely Rank one peak stage green copper primeval essence, but I am already at Rank two red steel primeval essence, three times your endurance. Your talent is inferior to me as well. At the end, you would run out of primeval essence and the loser will be you!"

"You!" Shino was shocked, he only saw his advantage but did not notice his weakness. Right now, he could not help but agree with Naruto, and his fighting spirit dampened.

"What, Naruto is Rank two?!" The surrounding Gu Masters gasped. The examination results were only obtained the day before, thus they were only spread among certain people, so most of the crowd did not know about it yet.

"An A Grade talent no doubt, amazing, this Naruto might really be the rising star of our clan."

"Kiri has that Haku, he is really too powerful. If Naruto can grow up, he might be able to resist Haku."

"This lad is interesting. Getting to Rank two in the academy and with such solid basic skills, this is such an uncommon scene. No wonder the clan leader poured so much effort into him," Mito muttered.

Hashirama replied, "The clan leader's guidance is only part of it, don't look down on this lad. Ever since he survived the assassination incident, he has become very hardworking, cultivating to the best of his limits, he is a good seedling, with both talent and hardwork. If he can grow up..., sigh, I feel like my burden is increasing."

"Hehehe." Clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed lightly.

Shino's weak nature was analyzed by him to Naruto. Now that he saw Naruto using it to his advantage, Hiruzen Sarutobi was very pleased.

"It seems that Naruto is this year's number one." Beside the clan leader, Inuzuka Gaku said.

Shibi Aburame snorted, staring at the scene intently. He obviously wished for his grandson to win and defeat Naruto, that way he would win honour for the Aburame Faction.

But things do not go as he wished, and on the stage after getting demoralized, Shino could no longer display his 100% ability against Naruto, and made continuous mistakes.

Eventually, Shino was caught with a fatal flaw, and was swept down the stage.

"Uzumaki Naruto wins!" Gu Master announced.

Shibi Aburame's face was black.

At once, Naruto was famous, getting all the attention from the clan people.

"Naruto beat Kiba and Shino simultaneously with wits and courage, it seems he is the first place this year," Some people praised.

"Makes sense, I think well of him as well. Too bad he cannot join our group." As the groups choose students, students are also choosing groups. A seeded student like Naruto was already long booked.

"Naruto is the clan leader's faction, while Kiba, Shino are the Inuzuka Faction, Aburame Faction's future leaders. This way, it seems that the Konoha Clan would be heavily dominated by the clan leader faction, suppressing the two clan elders." Some people could see even further.

On the other two stages, the battles continued.

Naruto walked down the stage long ago, hearing the people's praises, his heart roaring as he felt himself being reborn.

Different, it was very different from before.

His heart was filled with the excitement of recognition, the anticipation of being appreciated, and the joy of being commended.

A gust of winter wind blew, and although he felt the chilly wind, Naruto could only feel the sense of warmth like the summer day.

"Last match, Uzumaki Naruto vs Uzumaki Yami!" A while later, an announcer shouted.

The final battle, Uzumaki Naruto vs Uzumaki Yami!

"Oh, interesting."

"To think that at the end, it is a showdown between brothers."

"Naruto..." Seeing this, the clan leader's smile faded slightly, "The greatest obstacle in your heart is your brother Yami. Go ahead and defeat him, you have red steel primeval essence while also having the Jade Skin Gu. With both offense and defense, you have the greatest advantage. Break apart this obstacle in your way, and you shall be reborn!"

The final match finally started.

The two brothers stood on the same arena, staring at each other.

The last remaining sunrays were like blood…

The light of the sunset was like a luxurious carpet for the arena.

Two very similar faces.

The little brother's fighting spirit burned on, while the older brother's gaze was deep as the abyss.

"Brother..." Naruto's fists were clenched as he stared intently at Yami, speaking with a firm voice," Admit defeat! I am already Rank two, and I have over 80% red steel primeval essence. Your green bronze primeval essence is only 44%, you have no chance."

Yami lightly looked at his brother, "You are surely clear about my primeval essence. But it's better if you don't spout nonsense. If primeval essence can decide the victory, what's the point of fighting?"

Naruto was stunned, but soon he raised his spirits, and his vigor could be seen burning in his eyes.

In truth, in the deepest part of his heart, he also did not want Yami to admit defeat. But Yami was his older brother after all, thus in view of their relationship he had to say it.

If not, that would be too cruel.

"Since big brother is so determined, then I have no choice but to attack!" Before he finished his sentence, Naruto rushed towards Yami.

"This again!" Below the stage, Kiba looking at this scene, gritted his teeth. He made up his mind to harshly train himself after going back and return this humiliation tenfold to Naruto!

"Yami is finished, he does not have my Dragonpill cricket Gu." Shino folded his arms and smirked, enjoying Yami's troubles.

Naruto sprinted and instantly shortened the distance. In his hand there was a ball of moonlight.

Yami's expression was like steel; there was not a single change as he looked at the charging Naruto. He did not take a single step away but blue coloured moonlight also gathered in his right palm.

Suddenly!

Yami took a firm step after stomping the ground, and moved towards Naruto instead of backing away.

"This!" Naruto did not expect Yami's movement, he panicked internally and quickly fired a moonblade.

Yami rushed quickly, and twisted his body, avoiding the moonblade by a hair's breadth.

His expression was cold, without any shouting or aggression. But in his silence, there was an aura of absolute iciness emitting from him.

Naruto subconsciously took a few steps back. His limit was six meters, but now Yami was five meters away from him. This time he had to be the one trying to increase their distance.

Dundundun.

Naruto retreated while flicking his right wrist several times, sending moonblades flying to try and push Yami back.

Yami took fluid steps that were one after another, his body extremely agile. He moved intensely, and every time he managed to avoid the moonblade with no margin for error.

"This Yami is even more daring!" Mito shouted.

"Such a battle, they've disregarded death already," Hashirama also exclaimed.

"Another battle maniac!" Hana gritted her teeth, giving a glance at Torune Aburame who was not far away.

Torune Aburame was expressionless, but his eyes glimmered occasionally.

The noise from the audience stopped, they were all captivated by the battle on the stage.

The moonblades and Yami brushed past each other. From time to time there was a blue light that would reflect upon Yami's face. His cold expression remained as it was without any change, and each time he narrowly evaded death, showing his extreme battle talent!

The clan leader and clan elders all showed a serious expression.

Shino and Kiba stared with their mouths wide open, looking at Yami dodging every single moonblade in an impossible manner.

How did he do it? Numerous students had a giant question mark on their heads.

Hmph, Yami who had 500 years of battle experience, how can he be compared to Naruto who was only taught for a year by a Rank four Gu Master?

In Yami's eyes, Naruto was as thin as a clear stream. No matter how the stream flowed, or turned its way among the mountain rocks, he could see through it clearly to the bottom of the river.

The moonblade's every attack was not instant, it needed a process. Naruto had to flick his wrist, and that was the greatest foretelling.

In Yami's eyes, Naruto's shoulder movement, the movement of his wrist, every step he took provided a large amount of information. Naruto's every attack, evasion and dodging was easily seen through by Yami, even as to what was going on in Naruto's head, Yami could guess to a degree.

Naruto's mind right now was flabbergasted!

Yami was the obstacle in his heart for more than ten years, the shadow quickly expanding into darkness, dragging him into the abyss.

The nervous emotion made him forget to use the Jade Skin Gu. Yami's strong approach caused him to panic and he was unable to regain his tempo, thus not allowing him time to think.

This was the difference in experience, this was the difference between inside knowledge!

In Yami's perspective, his inside information was even more important than the Spring Autumn Cicada, it was his greatest reliance.

He was able to not rely on the clan leader, clan leader, family, friends, or Gu worms.

He had always and only relied on himself!

In this world, only oneself is the most reliable!

Those teammates and battle partners, they were just the masks of weaklings, the excuse to anticipate help from others.

He finally reached near Naruto!

Bam.

Yami's punch was pulled from a hidden angle, smashing right into Naruto's stomach.

Naruto's body curled as the force of the fist almost caused him to vomit. He quickly protected his head with his arms and took a large step back. At the crucial moment, it showed his steady basic skills.

"Where is he?" Naruto's eyes stared wide, looking around from the gap between his arms, trying to find Yami's location.

"Behind!" With this thought, Naruto felt a strong force at his waist.

He lost his center of gravity and fell on the ground.

But Naruto had gone through tough training. With this movement he flipped around on the ground and at the same time, shot out a moonblade from his palm towards his back.

This movement was the battle experience imparted by the clan leader.

If it was a normal person, they might follow closely behind Naruto. If they could not react in time, they would be hit by the moonblade. Even if the moonblade did not hit, they would be forced back.

But who was Yami? Even Hiruzen Sarutobi could not compete with him in terms of experience.

Yami moved steadily, not giving chase. Instead, he moved in a circle and got near to Naruto. The moonblade only managed to hit air.

Naruto thought he was able to pull some distance and quickly stood up. He was about to reorganise himself but he suddenly heard a swoosh sound.

"This is the gust of a punch!" At that split second, Naruto had such a thought.

Immediately after, he was harshly hit in the ear by Yami's fist.

Bam.

He immediately felt his vision darken, and a strong sense of dizziness caused him to lose balance, completely collapsing on the ground.

He sprawled on the ground for over two breath's time, and finally he recovered slightly. His vision became clearer, seeing Yami's two feet right beside him.

He suddenly understood how ugly his situation was. He was sprawled on the ground like a dog while Yami stared at him from that high position.

"Damn it!" Naruto was furious and tried to get up.

Under everyone's eyes, Yami lifted his right leg and stepped down firmly.

Bam.

Naruto's head was harshly stepped on, like a rock hitting the stage, making a loud sound.

"Fuck!" Naruto raged and tried to get up again.

Yami stared coldly, trampling down once again.

Bam.

Naruto's head hit the stage again. His scalp knocked open and blood bled nonstop.

"Damn! Damn it!" Naruto's teeth were about to be crushed from his clenching, and the rage in his chest burned through his entire body. He raised his head again, trying to get up.

Bam.

Yami's third step came down. This time he continued to step on his head, not letting go. Under the immense force, Naruto's face was harshly squeezed on the stage floor.

Naruto's face was almost deformed, and he breathed raggedly, struggling to no avail. He felt that on his head, there was a huge rock that would not move no matter how he struggled.

"Right, how could I forget, I have the Moonlight Gu!" Under the despair, Naruto's inspiration struck, and he thought of the Moonlight Gu.

His right palm gathered moonlight again.

But how could Yami not notice?

With a light sound, he shot out a moonblade onto Naruto's right palm.

Argh!

Naruto cried out, the immense pain sending his body into a spasm like he was struck by lightning.

His palm was almost pierced through by Yami, showing his white bones. The Moonlight Gu on his palm was already struck a great blow, it was on the brink of death!

"These two brothers really aren't on good terms," Mito mumbled.

"This Yami is too cruel, treating his brother like this," many people frowned unhappily.

"Yami is too savage, extorting our primeval stones for an entire year! Now he's treating his brother like this," the students gritted their teeth. Yami's coldness forced out their hatred towards a common enemy.

"Naruto, stand up, stand up! Defeat Yami." Some unknown student shouted.

"Defeat Yami, defeat Yami!" Instantly, many youngsters shouted.

"This Yami, is indeed a hated person." Hana snorted, enjoy his predicament.

"Naruto, hang in there, stand up! Defeat this monster Yami!"

"Naruto, stand up. We're with you."

"Naruto, you can do it, you can do it!"

The crowd cheered on fiercely, and sounds of encouragement entered Naruto's ears.

Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!

Naruto gasped heavily. As the sounds entered his heart it gave him an unimaginable strength!

The scenes of the past played in his head.

On the streets, the clansmen's comments.

"That's Yami, the future genius, he is not to be underestimated!"

"Who's that behind him?"

"Oh, probably his brother, who knows what his name is."

Uncle and aunt laughed, "Yami, now the entire village is discussing the new poem you wrote! This is very good, uncle and aunt are proud of you."

Yami waved his hand, saying calmly, "I only made those on a whim."

Uncle and aunt nodded, saying to Naruto, "Learn well from your brother, if you are half as talented as your brother, we would not have to worry."

Under the moonlight, deep in the courtyard.

Clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Naruto, saying gently, "Naruto, have confidence. You must find your purpose, believe in yourself."

"But, sir clan leader..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi patted his shoulders, encouraging, "The shadow in your heart, others cannot dispel it for you. You can only rely on yourself. I await that day."

The night before the year end exam.

Sakura looked at Naruto with love in her gaze under the lamp lights, "Young master, I believe that you can get number one. I have always believed it! Work hard!"

The morning before departure.

Uncle and aunt stood at the doorstep, "Naruto, after the year end exam, you would be leaving the academy. Seeing your growth, we are very happy! Go, go and show everyone the strength of an A grade!"

And…...

Under the setting sun, in a dark corner, a female classmate cried profusely, "The allowance is only three primeval stones, but Yami snatched a piece away, leaving me with two. I am almost unable to feed my Moonlight Gu at this rate."

Naruto's heart softened, "This is my primeval stone, I'll lend it to you."

The female classmate took the primeval stone, saying with tears, "Naruto, you are too nice, please defeat your brother and end his tyranny in the academy!"

Naruto was silent.

A bunch of classmates appeared in front of him.

"Naruto, you are an A grade talent, you can do it."

"Yami is too much, constantly bullying us, you are our only hope."

"Naruto, from today onwards, we're with you, we will always support you!"

"Everyone..." Naruto observed the surroundings, seeing the concerned pairs of eyes, and felt extremely touched.

Everyone...

Everyone has expectations of me.

My classmates, uncle, aunt, Sakura, and sir clan leader!

Everyone is waiting for me, looking at me, supporting me…...

How can I lose? How can I fall here? How can I!

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

His heart pounded in his chest, and Naruto's eyes shone with brilliance.

I cannot fall here!

I will dispel the shadow and stand up!

Naruto's fists were tightly clenched, no longer feeling any pain at this point. He felt a lion in his chest, awakening from its sleep and opening its huge mouth to roar!

Hot-blood boiled in his body.

Stand up, stand up!

Break the shadows, break the darkness!

"ARGHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto opened his mouth wide to shout, his body starting to emit a green jade light.

"What's that?" The crowd silenced.

"Jade Skin Gu!" Someone shouted.

Bam!

The students roared towards the heavens.

"Naruto, you can do it!"

"Naruto, we have your back!"

Finally only one last cheer remained —"Stand up! Stand up!"

"Everyone….. I can hear your voices." Naruto clenched his fist, his teeth almost crushed. Yami's pressure was no longer so imposing, he could finally get up, slowly and steadily.

The shouting intensified.

"He's burning with anger!"

"He's going to do a comeback."

Gu Masters hearing such cheers and excitement from the crowd, were all starting to feel moved.

"That's right, Naruto, that's right! Stand up, stand up, abandon the past, dispel the shadow and stand up, you will become a new person!" Clan leader's eyes shone with bright light as he cheered Naruto on in his heart.

"Jade Skin Gu..." Yami's eyelids drooped. He pulled back his leg and saw Naruto stand up slowly, the Jade Skin Gu's radiance turning his face green.

Naruto had always been hiding this trump card up till now and did not reveal it to anyone, thus nobody knew about it.

"Naruto got up!" The crowds' cheers exploded.

"He stood up!" Clan leader was moved, uncontrollably standing up from his seat. At this moment, he saw the rise of an A grade talent! He saw the future of the Konoha Clan!

"I stood up, brother, I will defeat you!" Naruto's eyes burned with determination, his entire body enveloped in bright green light like he was wear a jade armor!

"Oh wow, this defense, even the moonblade can't pierce it. It seems Naruto wins." Mito raised her brows, blowing a whistle.

"Indeed, even with the Little Light Gu's reinforcement, hitting on this barrier, it would only cause Naruto's primeval essence to be consumed faster. But comparing primeval essence expenditure, Yami is no match for Naruto. After this match, Naruto is going to rise!" Hashirama laughed lightly.

"Naruto had a Jade Skin Gu, but only used it now. It seems Yami's earlier attacks confused him. But now, victory is already waving towards him." Hana folded her arms, her gaze slightly uncertain.

Time seem to have paused.

On the stage, the brothers faced each other.

The two's distance was so close yet so far.

Naruto's firm determination, Yami's eternal indifference.

"Little brother..." He looked at Naruto peacefully, his lips curling into a smirk, "Thinking of defeating me, you're still far from it."

He raised his right hand, his right arm flexing, pulling into a bow shape.

"Big brother, you've lost!" Naruto felt amused in his heart seeing Yami's raised fist.

As long as he had primeval essence, even with the Little Light Gu's reinforcement, the moonblade could not break the jade colour barrier, not to mention his fist? Unless he used the Flower Boar Gu or the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu to raise his strength. But even so, he would need a defensive type Gu…...

Yami did not say anything, but he used his fist to give the most straightforward answer.

The next moment, the right fist flew in the air and hit Naruto harshly on the cheeks.

Bam!

After a loud crash, blood spilled as the jade light smashed to bits like broken mirror fragments dancing in the sky before vanishing.

"What?!" Naruto was hit by such a shock once again, and after a stunned moment, his neck was almost broken as he hurriedly retreated.

Yami followed up closely, using a bow step and raising his left fist, pulling back and striking again upwards!

Bam!

Naruto's other half of his face was hit by the impact, his head rising high up with blood and broken jade light flying in the air.

Bam, bam, bam!

He took three steps backwards, his ears buzzing as a dizziness ten times greater than before assaulted him.

"How can this… be!" His vision darkened, and he collapsed on the arena —

Plop.

Naruto fell on the ground, the light dissipating on his body as he fainted in the next moment.

The shouts and cheers came to an abrupt end.

The happy, excited expressions of the students were still glued on their faces, unable to change due to such a shock.

The entire arena was silent.

Yami's fists were bloody, to the point his bloody finger bones could be seen. Drops of blood fell and dripped on the stage.

Swoosh...

A cold winter wind blew, freezing away all the hot-bloodedness.

Yami's hair wavered in the air as he stood still on the stage. It was almost as if the heavily injured person with both his fists almost crippled was not him!

He looked coldly at the surroundings with a calm expression.

Everyone was silent.

In the tentage, the clan leader was still standing, staring dumbfoundedly.

"Sorry, I've left you all disappointed," Yami said lightly.


	15. A True Hero Sees Underneath the Surface

**A True Hero Sees Underneath the Underneath**

On the stage, Naruto fainted on the ground with no more movements from him.

Yami however, continued with his cold expression, standing in the middle of the stage.

After a momentary silence, the crowds erupted.

"How can this be?" Some people hugged their heads, revealing an expression of disbelief.

"Two punches breaking the Jade Skin Gu's defense, this-this-this..." Some people were tongue-tied.

"Too savage, even the jade light got smashed by him, does he not feel pain?" Some female Gu Masters took in a chilly breath.

"Without any defensive Gu worm and using his bare hands to break the jade light, this is true blue self-harm!" Even male Gu Masters' eyes twitched upon seeing Yami's hands, and were shocked by his ruthlessness.

Being ruthless to others, that is easy, but being ruthless to yourself, that is hard.

Yami using his bare hands to break the Jade Skin Gu's defense, it was not only savage to his younger brother, but even harsher on himself!

"I'll go take a look." The academy elder could no longer stand it, and after saying so, he jumped onto the stage.

He first squatted down and observed the fainted Naruto, sighing in relief as he found that Naruto was not in a critical condition. His head just had a huge impact, causing him to fall unconscious.

"Unbelievable, with the Jade Skin Gu's defense, he still suffered such heavy injuries from someone using their bare hands." The academy elder was shocked internally, raising his head and looking at Yami, his eyes shining with a fierce light.

"Yami, I'll heal you." The academy elder stood up, taking a few huge strides towards Yami and grabbing his forearm.

Yami's arms were in terrible condition. Not only was the blood and skin vaguely mashed, even his bones were revealed. Because of the huge impact there were also cracks on the bones.

"How intense this pain is, yet he didn't even frown a bit." Even if it was the academy elder, his heart shuddered seeing such injuries.

His tone was complicated, saying to Yami, "Endure it, the healing is very itchy and also very painful."

Saying so, his five fingers spread open and emitted a wave of blue moonlight. The moonlight got brighter and caused the academy elder's right hand to be translucent from the shine.

At a glance, the academy elder's entire right hand was like a piece of blue jade, the blood vessels and bones were all turned into jade.

The academy elder lightly raised his right hand and covered Yami's injured fist.

It was just like a piece of cold jade touching on an injury that was mashed with blood and flesh. Yami felt a heart-piercing pain, but he gritted his teeth and did not make a sound.

The academy elder's hand emitted gentle moonlight and the moonlight nourished Yami's injured spot.

On the bones, the cracks started to mend, and the flesh and skin started to grow rapidly and heal.

Yami felt an intense itching, causing him to breathe heavily.

The academy elder's expression was calm. While healing Yami, he diverted a part of his concentration towards Yami's arm, and also inspected his aperture.

In the aperture, the black green-coloured copper primeval essence was raging like waves in the sea.

A white and fat liquor worm was swimming and playing in the primeval sea.

The four walls of the aperture were all made of white-coloured crystal walls. This showed Yami's Rank one peak stage cultivation clearly.

The academy elder did not look away, but continued to scan Yami's body.

Finally, he found that on Yami's palm, there was the Moonlight Gu and Little Light Gu.

"No other Gu worms, did Yami really use his own strength to break the defense of the Jade Skin Gu? Such strength is far beyond a mortal adult. He is only fifteen years old, how can he have such strength?" The academy elder's eyes shone with suspicion.

"Clan elder, thank you for your treatment." Yami took back his arm from the academy elder and shook it around.

Although there was still some pain, the injury had already healed. If this was back on Earth, such an injury would have taken a year or two to heal and would even leave some serious side effects.

This was the magical aspect of this world. Now that Yami's arms were healed, although he still felt like they were weak when he grabbed the air or waved them around, seven or eight days later, the strengthless side-effect would disappear.

But Yami was not grateful to the academy elder. His injury could also be healed by other healing Gu Masters, and he was well aware: the academy elder's motive was to inspect his aperture.

Yami had expected this from the start, so he left the White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu in the second secret cave. As for the Spring Autumn Cicada, with its Rank six status, if it wanted to hide, even the Rank four Hiruzen Sarutobi would not find it if he inspected personally.

The academy elder did not find anything, and that caused him to frown. Although he was still suspicious in his heart, but in front of so many people, he did not have the proper opportunity to ask.

"Yami, you performed well, continue working hard." Finally, the academy elder patted Yami's shoulder and declared loudly, "This year's final exam, the first place goes to Yami!"

Ever since the academy elder's ascension to the stage, the audience watched quietly. After hearing his announcement, they started discussing fervently.

"To think that at the end, Yami had the last laugh!"

"He's merely a C grade, but he beat the Rank two Naruto who has a Jade Skin Gu, did he cheat?"

"Probably not, from the academy elder's personal treatment and probing. If he did not find any problems, Yami probably did not cheat."

"Yami's fists were greatly injured, that's normal. But as a fifteen year old, having such strength that surpasses an adult by far, isn't it suspicious?"

"What is there to be suspicious about? There are always people who are born with strange talents. Either super strength, or super smart, actually Yami's strength isn't that scary, think about that guy." The speaking Gu Master indicated at the standing Torune.

People were immediately enlightened, "Oh yes. When Torune was still a kid, his strength was already greater than an adult, is Yami also such a monster?"

"That has to be it. When Yami was young, he could make poems. Those poems were famous around the village back then. We thought he was an A grade, but he turned out to be C grade, but it seems heaven has other plans and compensated him with strength."

"He is still a C grade anyway, if he was B grade he would be another Torune. Hmph, nothing to be envious about, a Gu Master's cultivation relies on their talent. If I can get a Black Boar Gu in the future, I would have even greater strength than him. That is nothing much, he can only be arrogant for a while." Some people shrugged, speaking unconcernedly.

Yami walked down the stage, his eyes picking up the people's discussions as he smirked coldly inside his heart.

The Liquor worm's origin was already perfectly explained by Yami, but once the Jade Skin Gu was exposed, Yami would not be able to explain it. Thus, he had to keep this secret and could not use it in public.

As for these people's thoughts and explanations, it was the direction Yami wanted them to go. Or rather, even if the higher-ups were suspicious, they would only be suspicious of his mysterious backer.

"Half a year ago, I risked the danger and used the wild boar tusks to create a second layer of protection at the camp. It is finally coming into play." Yami eyes were dark like the abyss.

The Konoha clan leader did not sit down. He kept on standing and frowning deeply.

This matter had developed out of his control.

Yami getting first place, he did not really care much. It was just a year end exam's first place, it was nothing significant.

He was worried about Naruto Uzumaki.

Undeniably, today's impact was too great on Naruto.

If Naruto was beaten completely from the start and lost the fight, so be it. But it just had to be at the point where he used his full strength and got a huge confidence boost, that he was sent sprawling by Yami's two fists.

Such a psychological trauma might negatively impact his growth.

"Under my guidance and arrangement, Naruto was the first to advance to upper stage, peak stage and Rank two initial stage, continuously gaining success and confidence. But this confidence is probably gone by now. Sigh, my hard work has all gone up like smoke." Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed deeply, naturally gaining a little sense of disgust and loathing towards Yami.

If Yami had lost to Naruto, everything would have been perfect.

But he actually won, that is too… infuriating.

Not only the clan leader, but the other clan elders' were also full of solemn and complex gazes.

"Yami's strength is actually so huge, is he really a monster like Torune?"

"Actually, he was strange from young, making poems when he was younger than ten, so his strength getting larger as he grew up is nothing strange."

"But there is another possibility, and that is human action. Yami has a mysterious backer, maybe the backer assisted him."

"But the person behind him, who could it be?"

The clan elders' hearts were overturning, but their expressions said otherwise.

Clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi went silent before revealing a smile, saying, "Yami, getting first place with a C grade talent, this is an unprecedented grand feat! Becoming first place, you have a hundred primeval stones as reward and also Gu worm choosing priority. Now, I shall reward you further, you can choose any small group you want and join it. Regardless of the group, whichever one you want, just say it and you can join!"

Upon saying so, all the Rank two Gu Masters and students stared at Yami in envy.

Small groups had their differences too, and joining a good group meant a bright future. Konoha Bo's reward was very generous.

"Although I made this decision on the spot, I believe the clan elders here would agree with me," Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled even more intensely, looking at the clan elders beside him.

With Shibi Aburame and Gaku Inuzuka as the head of the clan elders, all of their faces were grim and some even frowned, but no one stopped him.

Yami's heart jumped.

Trouble had come.

Yami could see the intentions behind such an action, this was a small probing (test) from the clan leader.

His gaze swept through the arena, the entire clan's best performing three groups were here. The clan leader's faction's Hashirama group, Aburame faction's Torune group, and Inuzuka faction's Hana group.

If it was a regular student, joining any of the three groups meant getting a huge backer, representing a bright future.

But to Yami, it was the reverse.

In the clan's higher-up's perception, he was already part of a mysterious faction. Joining any of the three spelt trouble.

For example, if he joined the Torune faction, the Aburame family obviously know they did not recruit him, so their first thought would be — Yami is a pawn of another family, but now that he's joining our group, what intentions does he have?

Next they would think — The mysterious faction that recruited Yami earlier had already broken the rules, and now that Yami is present here, the clan leader would think that we were the ones who recruited him, so isn't this 'carrying the fault' for them? That will not do, we have to arrest Yami, keep a close eye on him and investigate him! We shall find concrete evidence and reveal the mysterious backer of his.

But the truth was, Yami has no backer!

"Once I join any of the three groups, it means I am offending one out of the three biggest factions in this clan. That will definitely not do! Sigh, I originally wanted to keep a low profile and join Jibei's group, but Jibei's group is backed by the punishment hall elder. Under everyone's watchful eye, if I join abruptly, that is inappropriate as well." Yami inevitably hesitated.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile became even more intense, continuing, "Yami, if you don't choose, I'll select for you."

The clan elders beside him watched quietly with an unmoving expression, each of them standing like statues.

"Hmph, forcing me?" Yami's gaze shone, immediately guessing Hiruzen Sarutobi's next words — either throwing him to Torune's group or Hana's group.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew in his heart that he did not recruit Yami. To him, this act can not only remove suspicion on him but also weaken his foe, as well as reveal the mysterious faction; it was killing three birds with one stone. It was a play that could divert the problem away — although seemingly simple, it was a strategic move showing Hiruzen Sarutobi's experienced political ability.

"No, I must not let him dictate it. It seems I can only choose a crappy group." Yami was about to open his mouth and speak.

Suddenly at this moment, someone spoke, "Why don't you join our team. Our group is lacking an attacker."

Who said that?

At once, everyone turned around towards the source of the voice.

The person speaking was neither tall or short, with dark yellow skin that made him look sickly. A pair of triangular eyes shone with brilliance.

"It's the sickly snake Orochimaru." Someone pointed out his identity.

"Orochimaru? It's just a trash team with no background!" The clan leader and clan elders all showed a disappointed expression.

"Orochimaru..." Yami's eyes shone with an undetectable dark shine.

He and this Orochimaru person had never met or spoken before, and he had no memories of such a person.

Why did Orochimaru open his mouth and invite him into his team? Was it purely because he had gotten first place in the examination?

How can that be!

Only someone as childish as Naruto would have such a naive thought.

But…...

Since Orochimaru opened his mouth and invited Yami personally, such a situation was a good breakthrough point.

"The clan's higher-ups must be very disappointed now. Hehe." Yami smiled thinking of this, his eyes looking downwards, hiding the brilliance in his expression.

"Then I'll join your group," Yami agreed on the spot, blocking Hiruzen Sarutobi's upcoming words.

"Is this Yami retarded?"

"Ignoring those top performing groups and joining the sickly snake's group!"

"He must be bonkers, Orochimaru's personality, hehehe..."

The students and Gu Masters started to discuss, looking at Yami like he was a fool.

The clan leaders and elders' expression turned dim.

Today's probing was thwarted by this Orochimaru! No... Maybe this Orochimaru is also a pawn in this game, but no matter what, they must investigate on this Orochimaru!

Three days later.

It had already been snowing for a day, and now that it was gradually getting smaller, pieces of snowflakes flew in the air gliding with the wind.

On Elemental mountain, there was a layer of white colour over it. Many branches were naked with no leaves, except the evergreen pine trees and Elemental bamboo, which had retained their original colours standing proudly in the snow.

A group of five people ran in the snow.

The leading person was neither short nor tall, bearing a sickly yellow skin — it was Orochimaru.

As he ran, he turned towards the quiet Yami, smiling gently with kindness, "Yami, don't be nervous. Although this is your first clan mission, the contents are simple. Just follow us and learn along the way."

"Yes," Yami lightly replied, staring forward with a solemn expression.

It was already winter.

Running on the snow, the chilly winter winds were even more intense. Every breath was like eating snow dust, chilling his entire chest.

Yami's face was originally very white, and now that the snow shone on it, it appeared even paler. In the process of running, the snow kept falling on his short black hair, his shoulders and forehead.

What was different than before was that Yami had changed his clothes.

This was a dark blue coloured battle attire.

The attire had long sleeves and long pants, with bamboo sheets tied on his legs as wrappings, and bamboo shoes adorned his feet. On his head there was a bright blue headband, and the headband fluttered in the air as Yami ran.

On his waist, there was a loose belt.

The belt was navy blue with a bronze plate on it, carved with the number "1"; it was very much eye-striking.

This was a Gu Master's attire, showing Yami's status as a Rank one Gu Master.

The youngsters had to stay a year in the academy and graduate before they were allowed to wear this.

This attire had much meaning. Once worn it meant that one has transcended the realm of mortals, leaving the lowly life and stepping into the upper society, being the middle class of the entire human race. Even if Rank one Gu Masters were the bottom of this tier, from now on any mortal had to give way to Yami and pay respects to him.

Orochimaru's gaze continued to shine. This battle attire when worn by Yami, coupled with his cold expression, showed the atmosphere of a cool and collected person.

While running, he continued asking Yami, "We are out on a mission, and normally we would have to rush when travelling, so running is a common thing. Are you used to it?"

"I can cope." Yami's words were precious like gold, using the corner of his eye to look at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's warm and kind expression caused him to think about the legend of Genten.

Words have it that Genten used the Rules and Regulation Gu and obtained strength but lost wisdom, leaving behind three Gu worms. One was Suspicion, one was Trust, and another was Attitude.

Genten grabbed the Attitude Gu.

Attitude Gu followed the betting rules, submitting to Genten, telling him, "Human, you caught me, I can only curse my bad luck. From now on, I will be at your command. Wear me and you will be able to use my ability."

Attitude Gu's appearance was like a mask. Genten put it on his face, but in the end he could not wear it. Even if he used a rope to tie it, it would still fall off.

"What's going on?" Genten was troubled.

Attitude Gu laughed, "I know, human, you have no heart. Attitude is the mask of the heart, so without a heart, how can you wear me?"

Genten realised at once, he had already given his heart to hope.

He was heartless.

Someone who is heartless cannot wear the attitude mask. In other words, to someone with a heart/an intention, their attitude is a mask.

"This kind and warm attitude is only Orochimaru's mask, what is his real intention?" Yami pondered.

While the person "sickly snake" Orochimaru observed Yami, Yami was also secretly observing him.

On the snow, five small groups were running.

Orochimaru looked at the sky, saying, "The sky's getting dark, our mission this time is to collect 'permafrost decayed soil'. Although it is easy, it consumes too much time. We have to speed up, everyone follow me, try not to get left behind. Yami, if you are unable to keep up, just inform us. Don't worry, you are a newcomer, we will take care of you."

Orochimaru smiled very amicably.

Yami nodded silently.

The other three members exchanged glances. The sky was actually still bright, Orochimaru had no need to say this. In reality, he wanted to give Yami an initial display of authority.

The three knew this deep down, but did not expose him.

In actuality, these kind of authoritative displays were common. When a new member joins, the older members would usually exert their authority to get rid of the younger member's arrogance so that it would be easier to command and control them.

"Let's go." Orochimaru said lightly, taking huge steps and being the first to rush out.

Yami's gaze shone, heading out with the same speed as the other three, following closely behind.

The bamboo shoes stepped on the snow, leaving behind traces of footprints.

The mountain road was full of obstacles, being difficult to manoeuvre. Especially with a layer of thick snow, it was even easier to fall down. At the same time, due to the snow cover, who knew if underneath it was sharp rocks or pitfalls?

If one stepped into a hunter's trap, they would be even more unlucky.

Living in this world was tough. Travelling seemed easy but in fact it had much to do with experience. Many newcomers suffered due to this.

Only through a long period of training, having gone through much hardship, a Gu Master that has accumulated much experience would be able to avoid these obstacles.

The chilly winter winds blew directly towards their faces as Yami strode through the snow.

At times he took small leaps, at times he ran long distances. Sometimes he sidestepped, sometimes he climbed, following closely behind Orochimaru.

The entire Elemental was covered by a layer of snow coat, and many of the trees had naked branches, without a single leaf.

At times, squirrels or wild deer were frightened by these people and ran away quickly.

Thirty minutes later, Orochimaru stopped in his tracks as he had reached his destination.

He turned over his head, looking at Yami, smiling, and praising, "Good job! You truly are this year's champion, following behind me and not losing your pace once."

Yami smiled silently. This kind of authoritative display, he was clear of it. In fact, sprinting in the snow had become a "traditional event". Many small groups used this to suppress the newcomer's arrogance.

The two stood on the spot and waited, until the remaining three members arrived.

Puff, huff, puff…...

They took deep breaths, their foreheads full of sweat, their faces red as they placed their hands on their waits, the last members plopping on the ground.

Orochimaru harshly stared at them, barking, "Stand straight! Haven't you embarrassed us enough? Look at Yami, then look at yourselves. Hmph, after this mission, go back and reflect on yourselves."

The three immediately stood up straight, but lowered their heads. They were chided by Orochimaru until they did not dare to raise their heads or rebuke him.

Only their gaze towards Yami changed.

"How strange, how can this Yami be so experienced? I did not see him fall even once!"

"Sigh, we only have normal strength, how can we compete with this monster?"

"Hmph, not only did we not get a show to watch, we even became the sacrificial lambs. This guy..."

"Enough, buck up." Orochimaru pointed forward, "This small-sized valley is our destination. Inside, there are large amounts of permafrost decayed soil for us to collect. Let's split up here and harvest the frozen earth. An hour later, we will gather here. Mitsuki, distribute the tools."

Orochimaru had just spoken, and the male member called Mitsuki stood up.

He opened his palm wide and a yellow light shot out from the aperture in his abdomen, landing on his palm.

The yellow light dispersed, showing its true form. A frog with a golden back.

This golden frog was plump with a giant snow white belly, causing its entire body to look like a ball when inflated. The frog's mouth and eyes were all at the top of its head due to this belly, being squeezed into a spot.

Yami's gaze shone, recognising this Gu worm.

This was the Rank two Gu worm — Large Belly Frog.

Soon after, Mitsuki's hands emitted traces of red steel primeval essence, and were absorbed by the frog.

Ribbit.

The Large Belly Frog screeched, opening its mouth to vomit out a steel spade.

The steel spade flew in the sky, turning large quickly. In the blink of an eye, it landed on the ground, becoming a large steel spade half the size of a person.

Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit…...

It called for several times, throwing up a tool each time.

Eventually, the snowfield in front of everyone had five steel spades, and five wooden boxes. The wooden boxes all had two ropes for carrying.

Gu master feeding Gu worms was a large burden. Thus, Gu worms were limited in numbers. During the initial stages, it was hard to single-handedly deal with different environments, and with different intensity of troubles, Gu Masters thus often worked in groups.

In a small group, there was someone doing reconnaissance, someone for offence, someone in charge of defence, someone healing, and someone as logistics support.

The Gu Master who stood up, Mitsuki, was a logistics support Gu Master. He controlled this Large Belly Frog, which was a support Gu worm, where its belly had another space that could be used as storage space.

Of course, every Gu had its strengths and weaknesses.

The Large Belly Frog's weakness was that not only was the storage space limited, every time it vomited an item, it had to croak once, and this was irritating. Especially when a Gu Master is hiding in the battlefield, if handled poorly, it would reveal one's location.

Another thing was, the Large Belly Frog could not store Gu worms, and it was not immune to poison, unable to store poisonous objects.

After distributing the tools, each of the group members had a steel spade and a box in their hands.

"Let's set off," Orochimaru waved his hand, leading the party into the valley.

Yami held the steel spade and carried the wooden box, choosing another direction.

"He is after all a newbie, rushing in like that. Hehe."

"Is the permafrost decayed soil so easy to harvest? If he cannot differentiate it, he might get normal frozen earth, wasting his efforts."

"The truth is, it is really difficult to differentiate. The permafrost decayed soil's colour is around the same as normal frozen earth, especially under the cover of all the accumulated snow, so newbies can only dig relying on their luck."

The three members seeing Yami's backview laughed internally.

An hour later, they saw that Yami returned with an entire box of permafrost decayed soil, and were all stunned.

Including Orochimaru, all their wooden boxes were only half-filled with permafrost decayed soil.

Seeing Yami's wooden box, they were almost ashamed to show their results.

"It is all permafrost decayed soil!" A member observed carefully and was even more shocked.

"Yami, how did you gather so much frozen earth?" A female member could not hold in her curiosity and asked.

Yami's brows raised, and the snowlight shone on his iris, showing a clear and transparent gaze.

He laughed lightly, "The academy elder said before, the permafrost decayed soil is a fertilizer created when the snow freezes the swamp. It has a tint of purple in the blackness, and is actually very smelly, but because it is frozen by the snow, it cannot be smelled. It is the Smelly Fart Fatworm's food. At the same time it is also very fertile, often mixed in the soil to grow crops, fruits and vegetables. The clan sending out this mission, is probably because they want to use it in the underground cave and fertilize the moon orchid flowers."

His words caused the four to be frozen on the spot.

"These theories are obviously learnt in the academy. But theory and reality are very difficult to be linked. Has Yami collected permafrost decayed soil before?" The three members looked at each other in shock.

Orochimaru's gaze shone, saying, "Good job Yami."

As he praised, his usual warm and kind smile became a little forced.

Orochimaru turned around, saying to the rest, "This way, our mission is completed. Everyone pass your spades and boxes to Mitsuki, and let's return."

When they got back to the village, it was already afternoon.

The five walked out of the internal affairs hall, Orochimaru distributing the six primeval stones they earned. He got two pieces, while the rest of the members got one.

The primeval stones were so easily earned, so the members all broke into a smile.

Yami kept his primeval stone stealthily.

Only in his heart did he think, "When a newcomer joins a small group, the clan would usually give a large reward for the mission as a form of supporting the newcomer. Collecting the permafrost decayed soil mission, the reward was at most two primeval stones, but because of me there were three times more. According to logic, I should have gotten more stones. If the snow sprinting was an authoritative display, then having us purposely collect the frozen soil alone was a sign of picking on me, and the distribution of primeval stones is suppression already."

One or two primeval was not a concern for Yami. He was only wondering strangely — he and Orochimaru never had any interactions, so why was he suppressing him?

"Unless..." An inspiration struck Yami.

The five stood on the walkway.

Orochimaru laughed kindly and said to Yami, "Little brother Yami, your performance really impressed all of us. It seems we did a correct thing inviting you to join us. You have just graduated from the academy, and might be unclear of some things. Let me introduce you to them."

"Firstly, the clan missions, each Gu Master must complete at least one a month. The more you complete and the more perfect it is, the higher your evaluation."

"Secondly, the missions are distributed by the internal affairs hall or the external affair hall, each Gu Master can only accept one. Once accepted, they must complete it."

"Thirdly, under special conditions, a Gu Master may choose to abandon a mission, but that will cause their evaluation to fall greatly. At the same time, Rank one Gu Masters have no rights to give up, and only Rank two Gu Masters do. But they can only abandon one mission a year."

"Fourth, the clan's evaluation is very important. It concerns your future in the clan, and the higher your evaluation, the greater your future and the brighter it is."

Yami listened, nodding. These things were already memorized by him. Orochimaru was right and did not misdirect him, but many key contents were not spoken.

"Alright, the permafrost decayed soil's mission has just been completed. Next, I accepted a wild deer hunting mission. The danger is low, so it is suitable for you to practice." Orochimaru said to Yami.

Yami laughed coldly in his heart, but said, "Thank you for your concern, group leader."

Mitsuki immediately followed up, "Little brother Yami, you should really properly thank the group leader. Although simple missions are easily completed, they have a small reward. The group leader's actions are to take care of you."

The other two female Gu Masters also spoke, "Yeah, yeah, little brother Yami, action speaks louder than words. Why don't you thank the group leader by treating him to lunch."

"Little brother Yami, you just left the academy, society is complicated. Human relationship is very important. If you don't know anything, just ask us during lunch."

Orochimaru laughed, purposely waving his hand, "Don't put him in a spot, he just left the academy, he must be tight on primeval stones."

"How can that be! Besides, just being the first place in the year end exam gave him a hundred primeval stones as reward right?" A female Gu Master purposely said, and then showed an expression of envy, "I'm really envious of you, a hundred primeval stones is a huge sum even to us."

"Group leader, you've mistaken our little brother Yami. How can he be so stingy. Am I right, little brother Yami?" Mitsuki laughed heartily, as if he was very happy.

Another female Gu Master got nearer to Yami, as if they had a close relationship, saying, " Little brother Yami, a word of advice. You can choose not to suck up to us, but the group leader, you have to. You know, our group's evaluation has a portion written by the group leader. If he says you're outstanding, you're outstanding. If he says you performed badly, it means you really performed badly."

"That's right, that's right. Evaluation is very important to us Gu Masters, we need at least an outstanding evaluation to be noticed by the higher-ups. In the future where we have sufficient achievements, we would be able to work for several years less!" Mitsuki immediately followed up.

Throughout the entire process, Orochimaru was smiling and watching.

Finally he waved his hand with a kind expression and laughingly said, "Ah, don't speak nonsense. I am always impartial when writing my evaluation, and will not be easily bribed by you. But don't worry Yami, you are a newcomer, so now that you're in our group, I will take good care of your evaluation."

If it were a normal teenager, they would've been led by the nose by these few people, feeling touched secretly. They are bullying a newcomer's ignorance and naivety.

But Yami's iris was calm as the sea.

Group leader being involved in the member's evaluation, that was the truth. This is the clan's system, giving the authority to the group leader, so that they can manage each small group.

But it is not as severe as these people said.

For the clan evaluation, the group leader's evaluation is only a very small portion, and it is still mostly attributed to the clan's internal affairs hall.

Or rather, even if the group leader had a great influence on it, so what?

Yami didn't give a damn about the evaluation.

He had already decided — quickly raise his cultivation, reach Rank three, and then leave this place. He had never thought of staying in this clan for over a hundred years to slog his life away.

To these ignorant and lowly peasants, the evaluation was the most important thing. But to Yami, it was lower than dog shit!

Thus, their somewhat threatening tone was of no use to Yami.

"I understand what you all have said. I still have something on, so I'll take my leave," Yami after being quiet for a while, said.

Eh?

At once, the four Gu Masters showed a shocked expression.

"What is the meaning of this? Did you not hear what we said earlier?" A female Gu Master stared with her eyes wide, screaming in her heart.

"Is your comprehension ability really okay?" Mitsuki at this moment, really wanted to grab Yami by the collar and ask him.

Orochimaru's mouth twitched.

Yami's indifference caused their self-directed performance to look like a joke. It made the scheme that they set up become a laughingstock.

Seeing Yami turning around and walking away, the fury in his heart blazed on.

"Come on Yami, don't leave so quickly, don't listen to their nonsense." Orochimaru controlled his temper and conjured a smile, quickly chasing up and blocking Yami, "You're going to rent a house right? Let us go with you. I have some personal relations, I am more familiar with the rental situation."

"I am indeed going to rent a house, I can't stay at the hostel anymore, do you have any ideas?" Yami raised his eyebrows, asking calmly.

"I know a few houses that are considerably cheap, and with good location." Orochimaru smiled, leading the way.

...

"My house, fifteen primeval stones a month, no second price."

"Pfft, renting my house with eight primeval stones? In your dreams."

"You must pay a deposit, 25% deposit. Other vendors are doing this too."

"My house has good Feng Shui, and its quiet at night. More importantly, it is facing the clan leader's pavilion, you know how good the location is. It is really cheap, only twenty-five primeval stones a month."

All the way until night time, Yami did not find a house to stay.

"Little brother Yami, you're too stingy. The village is only so big, the prices are all like this."

"In my opinion, you should get the house near the clan leader's pavilion, the second floor is very spacious and the scenery is nice. Little brother Yami, don't be so thrifty, it is only twenty-five primeval stones. The reward that you got is enough for you to stay four months."

The two female Gu Masters continued to urge him on with ill intent.

Yami shook his head, "I do not have many primeval stones, I cannot be wasteful."

"Then rent an underground apartment, it's cheaper." Mitsuki's eyes shone with cold brilliance, suggesting.

Yami snorted in his heart, this Mitsuki has such a vile heart!

The village is already high in precipitation, and now that it is winter, the underground apartments would have poor airflow, and tenants would easily catch a cold. Even if there aren't diseases, it would cause problems in the long term.

Seeing that Yami kept his silence, Orochimaru said, "Actually the big hall's first floor is good too. Co-staying with other people causes the rent to reduce as well.

Yami shook his head, "I want to stay alone, I do not like to stay with others."

Mitsuki snorted, saying unhappily, "You don't want this, you don't want that. I'm not trying to scold you, little brother Yami, but you're too picky and expect too much. With such high standards, it is not realistic."

Yami listened, laughing coldly in his heart while thinking, "Even if they fulfil the criteria, I would not accept any house you recommend."

His act of pacifying them was just for the sake of being careful, finding out if there are any traps.

Just as Yami was about to leave, Mebuki Haruno appeared.

"Young master Yami, I finally found you. The academy can no longer be stayed at, and the old master and his wife have already prepared a banquet, specifically asking me to invite you home. Staying at home is so much better, there is no need for you to go about renting houses outside," She urged.

Finally here…...

Yami laughed coldly in his heart, this Mebuki Haruno really found a good time. Finding him here at once, someone must have notified her!

Just as he had expected, the masterminds were his uncle and aunt!

And Orochimaru was the chain that his uncle and aunt created to bind him.

Yami's silence looked like hesitation.

"Yami, why don't you stay at your uncle and aunt's house, why make life difficult? Renting a house will spend a lot of primeval stones." Orochimaru spoke in a 'concerned' manner at an appropriate juncture as he looked at Yami, his eyes shining ominously.

In the hall, the lights shone brightly.

On the round dining table, the wine was already cold, and the dishes were cool.

The brilliant red candle flickered and danced, projecting the shadows of Aunt and Uncle onto the wall.

The two figures' shadow combined into one, and swayed gloomily with the candlelight.

In front of them, Mebuki Haruno was kneeling.

Uncle broke the silence, "To think this Yami is dead bent on going against me. Sigh, I wanted to calm him down with nice words and keep him in the house first before finding a reason to chase him out of the house. To think that he did not fall for it! He has made up his mind, rejecting my invitation without a single way to negotiate! Not even taking a step into my house!"

Aunt gritted her teeth, her expression slightly flustered, "This scoundrel is already sixteen years old, so if he wants the family fortune now we cannot deny it to him. Years ago we obtained that family fortune and it was clearly recorded in the inner affairs hall. Now that we cannot deny it, what shall we do now?!"

"Leave first." Uncle waved at Mebuki Haruno to withdraw, laughing coldly, "Don't be anxious. Throughout the year, I have already been planning for this. First, to get back the assets, he needs to have Rank one middle stage cultivation. He already achieved this and is even at peak stage, and gotten number one in the exam, that is very impressive. Hehe..."

"But, to successfully obtain his family fortune, it is not so easy! Rank one middle stage cultivation is only a pre-condition. To split the assets, Yami has to apply for it, and the internal affairs hall has to approve it and send him a mission to test if he has the qualifications. This is to prevent the clan from splitting family assets nonsensically, causing internal strifes and weakening the clan."

Aunt was enlightened, "This means that, he has to complete the mission before he can get his parents' inheritance."

"That's right." Uncle laughed sinisterly, "But the internal affairs hall's missions are sent to groups. The family asset mission will be the same. If Yami wants to complete it, he would have to rely on the group, he cannot do it alone. The family does this to make sure that the small groups stay united and increase their cohesiveness."

Aunt laughed loudly, "Husband, you're too smart. Getting Orochimaru to recruit Yami — this way, if Yami wants to accomplish the mission, he would need their strength. But Orochimaru is on our side, so Yami can never accomplish this mission."

Uncle's eyes shone smugly, "Hmph, even if he cannot get him into the group, I have other ways to deal with him. Not to mention completing the mission, even if he wants to apply for the splitting of the fortune and receive the mission, it might not be possible!"

…

Nightfall arrived and the snow stopped.

Yami walked on the streets. The bamboo houses along the way were all covered by a layer of white snow.

The snow that he stepped on emitted a light sound. The cold air entered his respiratory system, causing Yami's brain to be extremely awake.

After rejecting Mebuki Haruno, Yami disregarded Orochimaru and the group's advice and said goodbye to everyone, leaving by himself.

"So that's it." He walked and thought, "Uncle and Aunt are trying to trap and delay me, causing me to lose the chance to take back my inheritance."

"After the new year, I would be sixteen years old and be qualified to split the assets. My parents are dead, and my brother has new parents. If I am successful, the entire inheritance is mine. But to take back the inheritance, there are two crucial steps, each being extremely important."

"The first is to apply for the mission at the internal affairs hall without any other missions at hand. The second is to complete the mission to earn the rights to inherit the asset."

"Orochimaru is in cahoots with Uncle and Aunt. Leaving aside the second step, he's already trying to trap me at the first step."

The clan rules state that Gu Masters can only be on one mission at a time. This is to prevent Gu Masters from hogging and causing negative competition in the clan.

Orochimaru received missions consecutively. After finishing the permafrost decayed soil mission, he immediately accepted a new mission for catching wild deer.

The clan's missions were all given to groups, that is to say, according to clan rules, Yami has to finish the deer capturing mission before applying for his asset splitting mission.

"But at that point, I believe Orochimaru would just accept another new mission. As the leader, when accepting missions, he will always be a step ahead of me, causing me to be unable to accept my mission, thus always stopping me." Thinking of this, Yami's eyes shone ominously.

These plots and schemes were irritating, like an invisible rope blocking Yami's progress.

But Yami did not regret entering this group.

At the arena, he was backed into a corner. Orochimaru's invitation became a way for him to be free from the predicament.

If he did not enter the team, his uncle and aunt would have other ways to deal with him, this cannot be prevented and will be hard to defend against. But now that he is in the group, he can clearly see their schemes and easily counterattack.

"Solving this problem, I have my ways. The easiest way is to just eliminate Orochimaru, or assassinate uncle and aunt, then no one would compete with me over the family assets. But this way is too risky, they are all Rank two Gu Masters and my cultivation is still too low. Even if I kill them I cannot get out of the troublesome aftermath. Unless there is a good chance for me to take advantage of... but these chances are usually by luck."

Yami could kill the servant Akamaru and could kill Tazuna, but that was because they were mortals and servants, with life cheap as grass. Killing them was akin to killing a dog or pulling off weed, it was insignificant.

But assassinating Gu Masters is very troublesome.

Gu Masters were all Konoha clansmen, no matter which one dies, the punishment hall would investigate. Yami evaluated his own strength and knew there was too much risk in killing them now; he might even get killed. Even if he kills them, the punishment hall's investigation is even more troublesome. His future actions would be spied on and they might even find out the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.

"Attracting a much larger problem when eliminating a small problem, that is not what a wise person does. Oh? I'm here," Yami spoke lightly, stopping at a worn out bamboo building.

This bamboo building was torn and worn out, like an old man about to die, panting for his last breath in the cold harsh winter.

Seeing this bamboo building, Yami's face showed a trace of reminiscence.

This was the room he rented in his previous life.

In his previous life, after being thrown out by his uncle and aunt, he had less than fifteen primeval stones left and had to sleep in the streets for a few days before finding this place.

This place was too worn out and had much lower rent than other places. In addition, while other places counted the rent by months, this place calculated it by days.

"I do not know about other places, whether or not they have uncle and aunt's traps. But my previous life's memories tell me that at least this place is safe." Yami rang on the door.

After half an hour, he established the renting terms and was brought to the second floor by the owner.

The floors were old, emitting dangerous and concerning sounds when stepped on.

The room had only one bed, and a blanket. The blanket had many patches but was still riddled with some holes, and the yellow cotton wadding leaked out from inside.

The head of the bed had an oil lamp. The landlord left after lighting the lamp.

Yami did not sleep, but sat on the bed and started cultivating.

As his primeval sea raged on in the aperture, every drop of primeval essence was black green.

The aperture's four walls were a white crystal colour, in a translucent state.

Rank one peak stage.

Suddenly, the green bronze primeval sea started to have currents, like wild beasts raging and suiciding towards the four aperture walls.

Bam bam bam...

The huge waves crashed onto the aperture walls, causing the little ripples to break into small droplets before dissipating.

After a while, the 44% primeval essence sea was quickly expended, with large amounts of primeval essence used up.

On the sturdy aperture walls, there was lines of cracks.

But just cracks were not enough.

Yami wanted to break through Rank one peak stage and reach Rank two, thus he needed to break this aperture wall completely, evolving through its destruction!

Black green primeval essence continued to attack the crystal wall, and the cracks increased, forming a giant piece. At some places, the cracks were even deeper, forming very evident lines.

As he used up the primeval essence, he did not continue to use primeval essence to attack, and the crystal walls started to heal, causing the cracks to vanish.

Yami was not surprised, collecting his spirits and opening his eyes.

The oil lamp had gone out already. There was not much oil anyway.

The room was dark, with only the window providing a little bit of light through the crack.

The room had no firepit and was not warm. Yami had sat on the bed for a long time without moving, and felt that the chilliness had intensified.

His dark iris fused with the darkness.

"To breakthrough Orochimaru's lock, there is an easier and safer method. That is to advance to Rank two! Rank one Gu masters have no right to give up on missions, but Rank 2 Gu masters can do it once a year. If I advance to Rank two, I can give up on my mission and apply for the asset splitting."

"But to breakthrough to Rank two, it is not an easy task." Thinking of this, Yami sighed. Coming down from his bed, he strolled around in the tiny room.

From initial stage to middle stage, middle stage to upper stage, these are all small realms. From Rank one peak stage to Rank two initial stage, that is breaking through a large realm. Between these two cases there was an extremely different difficulty.

Simply put, to break the crystal wall, it needed explosive strength, forming a strong impact in a short time to smash the wall.

But Yami only had C grade talent, and the primeval sea is only at 44%. If he used his entire force to attack the wall, his primeval essence would be used up immediately.

Just like earlier, after his primeval essence was exhausted, he would no longer have the strength to continue. And the wall had recovery ability, so before long, it would heal up. Whatever Yami did earlier would have been wasted.

"Breaking the wall and reaching Rank two without special situations, one needs 55% black green primeval essence. But my talent is limited, having only 44%, thus people say that talent is the key in a Gu Master's cultivation!"

Thinking of this, Yami slowed in his steps.

Unknowingly, he had moved to the window, thus he opened the windows casually.

Every gust of wind shook the bamboo lattice window, and when opened the snow-covered mountain greets one's eye.

Under the moonlight, the snow was like white jade, spreading out and letting the world resemble a crystal palace before one's eyes, untainted by dust.

The snowlight shone onto Yami's youthful features. His expression was peaceful and calm, his brow smooth, his pair of orbs looking like the ancient spring underneath the moon.

As the cold winds blew onto his face, the young man laughed, "It is merely a small bit of wind frost."


	16. Kindly Helping His Teammates RIP

**Kindly Helping His Teammates Rest In Peace**

It was a night without sleep, and once day came, Yami stepped out of the room and started to purchase stuff wantonly.

The room was poorly furnished and the blankets were torn. If he lived there for long, the chill would enter his body and cause him to get sick.

Yami's primeval stones were already half-used up, but he still had to purchase the necessary equipment. He could not scrimp on these things.

Firstly was a blanket, he had to get a large blanket stuffed with cotton, or at least two. He also needed bed sheets and a mattress.

He needed another oil lamp so that it could illuminate the room, and he needed at least two pots of lamp oil.

Thinking about it, although the room was small, it could still hold a table and a chair, thus he bought those as well.

Most importantly, it was a stove.

In the winter, if he did not have a stove to warm himself when sleeping in the room, he would still get shocked awake by the cold.

Other than these, he also bought some dry rations and some water to last around seven days' worth.

The winter sun slowly rose, giving out languid rays of light.

Orochimaru and the other Gu Masters stood at the North door of the village, waiting anxiously.

"Something's not right. Last night we agreed to meet at this time and place. But it has already been fifteen minutes, and this Yami still hasn't shown up?" A female Gu Master asked.

"Calm down and just wait. It is inevitable that a newcomer is late," Orochimaru laughed. He had been fretting over not having any reasons to fault Yami with, but to think he faltered on the second day.

"Never mind that we are waiting. Even the group leader has to wait for him, this lad thinks too much of himself!" Mitsuki complained, his tone indignant.

Half an hour later, Yami was still nowhere to be found.

Orochimaru's face was darker than night.

"This scumbag, did he remember the wrong location? We said clearly that we are meeting at the northern door," Mitsuki said suspiciously.

"I'll wait here, you guys go look around the different doors," Orochimaru instructed, and the three obliged.

Fifteen minutes later, they returned with no fruit.

"Did this Yami see through our ploy and left the group directly?" A female Gu Master asked.

"You think too highly of him. Even if he is the first place in the year end exam, he is still a young newbie. His age is apparent." Mitsuki said.

Orochimaru's face was grim, "It is secondary to whether he has seen through us. The crucial thing is to find him now. I am afraid that he has left us behind and is trying to breakthrough to Rank two on his own. Once he reaches Rank two, he can abandon this mission and apply for the splitting of assets from the internal affairs hall. Find him, go and find him! The village is only so big and there are only that many rental houses, we must find him and not give him the time to breakthrough to Rank two!"

"Yes!"

…...

In the room, Yami sat on the bed.

In front of him were a few money bags, and inside them was all primeval stones.

"Not enough primeval stones," Yami sighed, his expression grim.

Primeval stones are the driving force behind a Gu Master's advancement, and if they are lacking, the Gu Masters would need to rely on their own recovery speed for primeval essence, which would greatly reduce their cultivation speed. At the same time, without sufficient food, the Gu worms would die of hunger.

Yami's primeval stones, during his time at the academy, it had reached the peak of being slightly above a thousand. But it could not stand up to the expenditure over time.

A same stage Gu Master up till now, only has three Gu worms.

But Yami, after getting number one in the year end exam, entered the Gu hall and chose another Little Light Gu for free.

He must choose, for if he gave up, it would invite suspicion.

Like this, he had seven Gu worms on hand!

Undeniably, this was a huge financial burden.

"If this continues, I can only hold out for two months. I must get back my family assets, that is the greatest financial support. But to get them back, the first step is to advance to Rank two." Yami's gaze was dark.

To Yami, advancing to Rank two was not easy.

For a Gu Master's cultivation, first was resources, second was talent. Without talent, the path of cultivation would be difficult and their accomplishments in the future would be lower.

Talent is split according to D, C, B and A grade.

But this is only a rough distribution.

In fact, every grade has another specific differentiation.

Taking a C grade for example — the primeval essence storage in the aperture would be around 40-59%.

Yami's primeval essence was 44%, so in the C grade range, he was only middle-lower class.

Rushing to Rank two, he needed at least 55% black green primeval essence. To an A and B grade Gu Master, this was not difficult, and to the 55-59% C grade Gu Masters, they could pass as well.

Thus, for C grade Gu Masters, once they reach a certain accumulation, most of them would advance to Rank two. Only very few can attain Rank three.

Thus, the talent could determine most people's achievements in their lives. Yami being given the cold shoulder, he could not blame the people for being biased.

"Although my C grade talent is only 44%, if I want to break the wall and reach a new height, attaining Rank two, it is still not impossible. The easiest way is to find a talent raising Gu worm. Secondary, I can get a support-type Gu like the Liquor worm, and that can help to break the barrier as well. Lastly, I can attain the help of a higher-ranking Gu Master, but using external primeval essence has a huge backlash, unless I can get the Cleansing Gu in future to eliminate the external presence."

Yami thought about it while using both hands to take out a primeval stone, using his fingers to rub the smooth surface of the stone.

"But the above methods are not recommended for me. I do not have any friendly Gu Master to help, and even if I do I will not let my aperture be at their mercy. Gu worms like the Liquor worm are too rare, even getting the Liquor worm was my extreme luck. As for talent raising Gu worm, I got it in my previous life and attained Rank six cultivation, and I also know where to find them, but I cannot go to those places now with my current cultivation. Even if I get them, I cannot keep them, or even use them."

"But other than these methods, there is a final most stupid method. Using primeval stones to force it!" Thinking so, Yami's eyes flashed as he gripped the primeval stone tightly.

Gu Master cultivation, first was resources, second was talent.

Without sufficient talent, one can compensate using resources to a degree.

"My primeval essence is only 44%, I do not have enough to break the aperture walls. But if I absorb primeval essence while attacking the walls, I can hold on much longer, and in about four to five days, I would be able to smash the walls!"

Making up his mind, Yami opened his eyes, his heart sinking into his aperture.

Green copper primeval sea raged on as the waves crashed into the aperture walls.

But this time, to prevent his primeval essence from drying up and becoming insufficient to maintain the cracks and causing the aperture to recover, Yami purposely slowed the attacking speed.

This way, the green bronze primeval essence expenditure would be greatly reduced, but the crack formation would also slow down. Despite so, Yami continued to absorb the natural essence of the primeval stones.

Primeval essence recovery has to be slightly above the crack recovery speed. This way, even if it is slow, showing less than 1% progress, there would be hope as time passes.

The only thing about this method would be that other than eating and shitting, Yami had to cultivate non-stop. The more time he wasted, the more primeval stones would go down the drain and the more his hard work would squander.

He could stop for a maximum of fifteen minutes, and after that if there isn't any primeval essence to continue attacking, the aperture would fully recover.

Thus, once the attack began, he had to persevere until he succeeded, and cannot be disturbed. Once he stopped for too long, he would have to restart the process.

Yami did not have so many primeval stones on hand to do it multiple times.

Time flies when cultivating, and in the blink of an eye, the sun set.

Under the setting sun, Orochimaru with a cold expression said, "After finding for a day, you still haven't found him?"

"No, group leader." Mitsuki wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "That lad, he did not go to any of the houses we recommended, we have no idea where he is hiding."

"Hmph! Continue searching tomorrow, we have to find him. Remember to search the inn as well, I do not believe that we cannot find him. The village is only so big, no matter where he is hiding, there has to be a trace!" Orochimaru walked away in fury.

Until the afternoon of the second day, their search finally bore fruit.

A female Gu Master walked to Orochimaru excitedly, reporting, "Found him, found him! Yami is at a worn-out bamboo building, and has rented the second floor. According to the owner's description, it should be him."

"Hmph, as I expected, he really hid himself and is trying to breakthrough to Rank two." Orochimaru laughed sinisterly, "Let's go and make ourselves guests in his room and show him some concern. He is a newcomer after all."

"Hehehe..…." The others also started smirking.

The four immediately came to Yami's residence.

There was a paper on the door.

Orochimaru took it down and read it. It was Yami's handwriting, saying that he needed to go into closed door cultivation for a few days and will not leave, as he would be attempting to breakthrough to Rank two. If others saw it, they should not disturb him. If Orochimaru saw it, it was a 'request of absence' application.

Orochimaru snorted, throwing the paper away.

How can I let you advance to Rank two so successfully?

He laughed coldly, knocking on the door.

Knock knock knock.

"Little brother Yami, are you here?" He purposely said loudly, "We are here to see you, how could you not tell us about your closed door cultivation, seriously."

There was no reply.

Knock knock knock.

Orochimaru knocked loudly.

"Little brother Yami, it's not that I want to nag at you. But you are making decisions on your own. Now that you are our group member, you should listen to instructions and obey orders, moving together. We have already accepted the wild deer hunting mission, this is specifically for you to train, so why don't you stop first and complete the mission with us, then cultivate," Orochimaru's eyes squinted as he said in a gentle tone, although his expression was dark.

There was still no reply.

JIao San suddenly raised his voice, "Little brother Yami, why are you not replying, did something happen to you? It is not so easy breaking through to Rank two, you can ask us for experience. Yami! Did you hear me, oh no, could it be that you fainted?"

Orochimaru talked to himself, smirking coldly but his voice was full of concern and anxiety.

The other three members observed the show.

Mitsuki interrupted at an appropriate timing, "Leader, you might be right, Yami hasn't responded after so long, let's go in and save him!"

"Yami! Yami, quickly open the door. We're really worried if you keep silent. If you don't open the door, we will break in. You are our newest member, we cannot let you be in danger!" Orochimaru shouted loudly.

Still, there was no reply.

Orochimaru's mouth curled, indicating to Mitsuki.

Mitsuki acknowledged and raised his foot.

With a loud BAM sound, the entire door was sent flying, crashing onto the bed!

"Hang in there Yami, we're coming to help you!" Orochimaru shouted with a concerned expression, taking huge steps into the room.

But the next moment, he was dumbfounded.

The room was empty, Yami was not inside.

The four became silent.

"How can this be, where is he?" Orochimaru broke the silence, saying frustratingly.

He 'performed' outside the room for such a long time, but it turned out to be a one man performance as Yami was never inside.

The three looked at each other, not expecting such a result.

"This is weird, if Yami isn't here, why would he paste that paper on the door?" Mitsuki said carefully.

"Get the landlord here now!" Orochimaru raised his foot and sent the door flying.

"You looking for me? Hmph, I was just about to find you. Coming to my house and raising a huge ruckus, even breaking down my door. Young man, you sure are capable." The landlord was an old man, but his tone was very firm.

Being able to own additional houses in the Konoha Village and renting it out, he was obviously a Gu Master.

A Gu Master's strength and status supersedes a mortal. Mortals do not dare to operate such a business. In fact, they do not own property.

The entire village's property is owned by the Konoha clan. The mortals who live here are the farmers and servants of the clan.

"Senior, we are here to find a young man, he is our group member." Facing the landlord, Orochimaru controlled his temper.

An old Gu Master like the landlord, even if he is old and no longer striving for his career, he still has strong relationships and connections. Even if he is retired his ability is still not to be underestimated.

Those without human relationships and trump cards, how would they dare to do business?

This is not a peaceful era, it is full of violence and plunder.

The landlord shook his head, his tone rigid, "I do not care about my tenant's whereabouts, but I do know that you broke my door. You need to compensate me."

"Hehe, this is our fault, it is only right that we compensate you," Orochimaru laughed dryly. Although he was furious inside, he still forced himself to compensate some primeval stones and even gave some extra.

The landlord's expression turned slightly better, "If the young man who rented this room is who you are finding, then I must tell you that he has not turned in for a day. After paying a month's rent, he bought a huge amount of things yesterday and asked me which place sold coal cheaply. I told him that there was no need to buy coal, as there is a valley outside the village towards the north. A mine is situated there where he can excavate the coal. After thanking me, he left and never returned."

"So that's it." Orochimaru looked at the decorations in the room.

Indeed, the mattress and bedding was new. The table and chairs were old goods bought by Yami that were seemingly firm.

The stove was empty, it indeed did not have coal.

Orochimaru breathed out slowly, being at ease.

"It seems Yami was delayed by excavating coal. Nevermind, let's come again tomorrow." He walked out of the room first.

But on the third day, Yami still did not show up.

Orochimaru and the others stood outside the room, hesitant.

"Digging for coal, it does not need so much time. Yami wants to do closed door cultivation so maybe he dug more. But it's been so long, could something have had happened to him while he was excavating?" Mitsuki conjured.

Orochimaru nodded unnoticably, pointing towards the bed and stove, "This lad is very stingy. He paid a month's rent all of a sudden and even bought so many things, and especially pasting that paper on the wall, he probably wanted to cultivate here. Too bad he was unlucky. These days the wolf hordes have gotten bigger, and the wild beasts around the village have gotten more active. He might have encountered some wild beasts."

"Leader is wise!" The two female Gu Masters said at the same time, flattering him.

Orochimaru laughed while raising his head, "Hahaha, I was still fretting over how to deal with him. Though we have that deer catching mission, let's not rush out to do it. If we meet him in the wilds, we are forced to save him, right?"

"Hehehe." The other three members started laughing.

Day four.

In the aperture, waves of black green primeval essence hit against the crystal walls relentlessly.

The translucent white crystal wall was already full of cracks, crisscrossing each other.

This is Yami's result after working hard non-stop for three days and three nights. At most, when he really could not take it anymore, he would quickly take a meal and settle his bowels.

These days, Yami had purposely slowed the wave crashing process, and at the same time he drew more primeval essence from his primeval stones. Thus, after such a long time, the green copper primeval sea had only dropped from the 44% limit to around 20%.

As time passed, when there was only about 13% primeval essence left, the wall could no longer hold up, and had reached its limit.

Crack crack…

The originally sturdy crystal wall broke into pieces, and the fragments fell into the primeval sea, causing ripples and waves. After that, it turned into white dots and vanished into thin air.

What replaced the crystal wall, was a brand new white light wall.

This was the Rank two light wall. Although there was not much difference and it still emitted white light, it was much more glimmering that the Rank one light wall.

At the same time, traces of red primeval essence were produced in the sea and it mixed around with the black green primeval sea in the aperture.

This was the Rank two initial stage red steel primeval essence!

"Finally I did it, I broke through to Rank two!" Yami opened his eyes abruptly, the room immediately brightening up.

But a second later, a strong wave of nausea hit him.

"I went through four days and three nights of non-stop cultivating, it is too intense and my body is going to collapse soon." Yami laughed bitterly, slowly lying down. "My cultivation was not disturbed at all, it seems that my set up at the rental house had worked. It was worth spending this sum, next I shall rest well for the night and return to the village tomorrow."

Thinking of this, intense sleepiness assaulted him.

Yami forced his eyes to stay open and used his intense will to cover himself with the blanket.

After closing his eyes, in a few seconds, he fell soundly asleep.

The cultivation earlier had used up most of his spirit.

He slept until the afternoon of the second day.

Yami opened his eyes, feeling his spirit recovering to around half, but he was still feeling weakness in his body.

He opened the door, walking out of the room for the first time in five days.

This attracted a person.

This person had slim long eyes with a thin body — it was Jiro's brother Jibei.

Seeing Yami, he exhaled in relief, saying, "You're finally out! Hmph, I would have broken into the room if you still did not come out after the next few days. After all if you die here, I'd be held responsible."

Yami laughed but did not say anything.

The winter sunlight broke through the window, shining onto his face, amplifying the trace of pale white weakness on his features.

Five days ago, he purposely asked the landlord and gave Orochimaru the clues of his coal story. After that he left the Konoha Village and went to the hamlet at the mountain foot.

Because of Tazuna previously, Jibei was half an alliance mate of his. Using this relationship, Yami stayed a few days in the village and advanced to Rank two without any interruption.

Of course, the rock crack secret cave was much more elusive than Jibei's place, but it was not completely safe. Yami had to consider the possibility of Orochimaru and the others relentlessly finding him, and might find the rock crack secret cave.

Although chances were slim, if the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was found out, Yami's life would be in danger.

Yami was a very cautious person, and he naturally would not take such risks.

At the same time, it was safer at Jibei's place. Even if they had a shared secret, Jibei would not kill him to silence him.

The risks and troubles of killing a Gu Master was too great. Without sufficient benefits, Jibei had no motivation to do it. In fact, to preserve the secret, Jibei would even have to worry about Yami's safety.

After all, if the clan's punishment hall investigates Yami's death, they might find out about Tazuna's secret.

Seeing Yami safe, Jibei was really relieved.

But quickly, he felt the aura of Yami and his expression changed, "To think that you really succeeded, reaching Rank two in one go!"

He was shocked in his heart. Five days ago when Yami approached him and stated his intentions, he was actually feeling disdainful in his heart.

Absorbing the primeval essence from the primeval stones and breaking through to Rank two, this kind of multitasking method was very draining on the spirit. Normally speaking, Gu Masters needed a very strong will, patience and years of cultivating experience.

Only with the experience, a Gu Master could treat the extraction of primeval essence from the stones as an instinct. At the same time, manipulating the primeval sea skillfully and causing the impact to be controlled at a degree, and it had to be perfectly calculated, just enough to match the recovery rate of the primeval essence so that the process could be sustained.

In Jibei's opinion, Yami had no chance of success. But to think, he did it in one go.

Yami laughed indifferently, "I was lucky. I plan to return to the village today, but before that, it would be nice if I can have a meal."

"Hehehe, little brother Yami, since you're here, of course I'm taking care of your meals." Jibei patted his chest, his attitude even more friendly than before.

Although he did not think well of Yami's future, but now that he has advanced to Rank two, it meant that he had gone through a difficult hurdle and has the qualifications to be on par with him now.

After a scrumptious meal, Jibei brought Yami to the entrance of the small village personally.

"Little brother Yami, be careful this time. Recently the wolf nest area has gotten slightly fiercer, causing the wild beasts to become more active. Eh, it is snowing." Jibei paused, then continued, "My opinion is, don't go now. How about you stay here for another night?"

After Yami reached Rank two, he became really friendly.

But Yami was insistent on leaving, thus saying goodbye to Jibei.

The snowflakes fell calmly, just like pure white fur that was floating down slowly.

The light of the setting sun turned the snow into a golden yellow.

Flake by flake, the snow drifted onto Yami's head and shoulders.

In the far distance, the Konoha Village stood upright over the mountain waist, watching over quietly.

"Run faster, don't fall behind!"

"The clansmen in front are fighting a bloody battle, they are waiting for our backup."

"Follow closely, or you will easily lose your direction in the midst of battle at night. Newcomers better pay special attention!"

On the way back to the village, there would be a five-man group from time to time running hurriedly past Yami's side.

"Did something happen?" He had not walked for more than five hundred meters when Yami saw the thirteenth group.

He could not help but contemplate, but to be quite honest, with five hundred years' worth of memories it was just too superfluous and messy. Mentioning this, although Yami was reborn, he had never given up any of his old memories.

Yet, much of his memories were enshrouded in a layer of thick fog, and if he tried to retrieve them by force, he would only get lost in the fog, getting more losses than benefits.

Only a few deep and powerful memories that were like sparkling and translucent pearls ran through his previous life's five hundred years like a connected thread.

It was evident that what was happening right now, was in fact not in any of these pearls.

The life of his in the Konoha Village was just the beginning of the preceding period, it was just way too long ago. Besides…

"There's a possibility that this never happened in my previous life, but because of my change, a butterfly effect happened and caused changes to the surroundings."

Just like that, he walked while pondering. Subconsciously, Yami reached the Northern gate of the village.

By chance, there was another group about to set off.

"Eh?" On seeing Yami, only one person from this group stopped in his tracks. "Yami, why are you still here?"

"What's wrong?" Yami raised his eyes and looked at this person. It was no other than his fellow schoolmate, Shino Aburame.

Shino immediately frowned and said, "Oh geez, you still don't know yet? There's been a small scale beast tide that formed near the village. If we let it be, it will slowly become a big scale beast tide. When that happens the villages at the foot of the mountain will be crushed. Without those lowly mortals and slaves, we'd also be in a difficult position sometimes."

"Oh, so it's like this?" Yami's gaze flashed.

Being reminded like this, he was able to remember that such a thing did happen in his memories.

In this world, it was hard for humanity to survive. Every few years a beast tide would happen. Humans need resources and living space. This is no different from wild beasts and insects, they also needed such things!

To explain the beast tide as a war between wild beasts and humanity, perhaps this will be easier to understand.

Taking Elemental Mountain for example, every three years there would be a large scale wolf tide that attacks each of the big mountain villages.

"According to my calculations, the real outburst of the wolf tide will happen next year. However, this small scale beast tide, is a subsidiary of that. The wolf group will continue growing stronger and bigger, and this will cause the other beast groups around the area to lose their living space. As this effect accumulates, when it reaches the maximum limit, it will cause the migration of beast groups. Migrating beast groups will naturally influence other beast groups."

"Under such an intertwined influence, there is a chance that the influence would be expanded and cause all sorts of beast groups to relocate, causing the beast tide to be formed from this matter. If this problem is not controlled in time, the tide would only get bigger. Although it is still unable to endanger the existence of the Konoha Village, if we leave it alone, the village's power would be greatly reduced."

"Wait! If this is the case… Heh heh heh heh." There was a sudden flash in his eyes, but Yami promptly cast his gaze down, hiding away the change in his eyes.

Seeing that Yami had not said anything, Shino continued to speak. "At the present time, the internal affairs hall and external affairs hall have both already given out the order to mobilize, they proclaimed this as an urgent mission. Yami, don't you think of goofing off. Your group has already left in the morning, you must also go. But…"

As he spoke up to this point, Shino purposely dragged out his intonation, "Danger lurks everywhere during a beast wave. All kinds of wild beasts roam about, and most of all a battle in the night is way more dangerous than the day. You're just a small little Rank one Gu Master, unlike a Rank two like me, you should be careful. Heh heh heh!"

As he said this, he purposely held his head high and puffed his chest out, stroking his own belt, his expression joyfully satisfied and proud.

His belt was no longer the green coloured Rank one belt, but a Rank two Gu Master's red coloured belt. At the same time on top of the metal plate on the belt, there was a '2' word.

It was thanks to his grandfather Shibi Aburame's help that he ascended to Rank two not long ago.

"I just heard about this news, but since this is the case." Yami suddenly smiled and said, "Then I'll follow you guys and set out together. Once on the front lines I'll leave the team and return to mine."

"What? Urgh, who wants to bring you!" Shino folded his arms, his mouth twitching disdainfully.

Yami's tone was distant. "The clan rule states: Gu Masters that are left behind must merge into the closest group to their location, they have an obligation to continue fighting. Shino, you don't even know this point?"

"You!" Shino glared, just about to flare up.

"Indeed, this is the case," Torune who had been watching quietly finally spoke.

His body stature was close to two meters tall, and his figure was powerful and strong. His upper body was bare, the muscles hard and tough like metal. His entire body was covered in fiery red skin that seemed to faintly emit hot air.

Undoubtedly, he was the leader of this group.

Seeing him speak, even Shino who was the Aburame faction's inheritor, kept his mouth shut.

Torune expressionlessly looked at Yami, continuing, "Let us depart, you keep up."

His voice was low and deep, his words short and simple. There was an aura of him that caused people to hardly question him.

Yami shrugged nonchalantly, taking it as agreeing.

Shino laughed coldly, his gaze harboring malicious intentions as he looked at Yami, speaking in an emphasized, peculiar tone, "Then you had better keep up!"

Yami did not reply to him.

"Hmph, why do we have to drag him around. Just a Rank one Gu Master." Shino mumbled to himself angrily, but since he was hindered by Torune's authority, he did not dare act impudent.

At once, a group of six people set out from the entrance, following the mountain road and running down the slope.

Torune Aburame took the lead. He may be big-sized, but his speed was also not slow. Besides him and Shino, there were also two men and one female, their facial expressions indifferent.

As they ran, Torune's group started to display the graceful bearing of being one of the three strongest groups.

Each of them had rhythmic breathing, their footsteps fast and easy. Only Shino seemed to be in a difficult situation, but he would use his Scarlet Pill Cricket Gu from time to time, catching up reluctantly. Yet it could also be seen that he had received good teaching, for although he often staggered along the way, at least he never fell down.

When they reached the mountain foot, with one hand gesture from Torune, the group swiftly stopped in their tracks.

Huff huff…

Shino had fallen behind by three hundred meters, and he was the last to catch up. His face was pale and he panted heavily, his gaze inconceivable as he looked at Yami.

During the journey Yami had always been following tightly behind, and up till now his breathing was only slightly heavy. He did not look the least bit like a newcomer who just graduated.

"Shino, remember, regulate your physical strength," Torune looked back and advised Shino. Then he swept his gaze past Yami, his eyes showing a hint of praise.

The looks that the other few group members gave towards Yami had also softened a little.

"We will be nearing the beast tide down there. Shino and Yami, come towards the middle of the team." Torune looked at the pitch-black mountain forest before him as he spoke.

This sentence let Yami reevaluate Torune.

This huge boulder of a man sure had tolerance. The middle of a group is often the safest spot. Although Yami was not a person of the Mo bloodline, Torune still maintained the manner of protecting a newcomer. To compare him to the sickly snake Orochimaru, the latter would immediately pale in comparison.

The sky had already become completely dark, and the black clouds were in layers, causing the accumulated snow to also become dark and gloomy.

Torune's group had already changed their group formation. Their speed dropped greatly as they ran slowly through the complicated terrain of the mountain forest.

Yami and Shino were in the middle part of the group, where on the left side was the huge Torune, while the right side was an old man. Behind them was a young woman with a head of watery blue-coloured long hair.

And in front of them was a male Gu Master called Bisuke.

He was the reconnaissance Gu Master of this group, and he gave out hissing noises. From time to time he would stick his tongue out into the air.

Right now his tongue had a small divide in between, becoming the bright red forked tongue of a snake. As they entered deeper into the mountain forest, their surroundings started to show wild beasts violently running about wildly.

Suddenly Bisuke opened his mouth and spoke, "Before us, three medium-sized animals have appeared. Suspected to be wild deer."

"Drive it away." Torune's expression was unchanging as he immediately gave the order.

The six-manned group did not change their direction; they continued pursuing forward. Three wild deer appeared before them, quickly changing their direction and dispersing.

Not long after, Bisuke's expression changed. "A group of medium-sized creatures. Suspected to be turtleback apes."

"Shift," Torune said.

The small group immediately broke to the left side, bypassing this group of troublesome apes.

This was the benefit of having a reconnaissance Gu Master, he was able to anticipate and inform earlier, letting them make accurate decisions from it.

"Bisuke is probably using the Snake Tongue Gu. This Rank two Gu worm can sense heat temperatures. But it has three very obvious flaws — firstly, the perception radius is small, secondly it is easily interfered with. Thirdly it cannot detect cold-blooded creatures. Yet no matter what, it is better than not having any detection. I have reached Rank two now, and in future to survive in the wild, I will also need a detection-type of Gu," Yami thought.

Suddenly Bisuke urgently spoke, "A middle-sized creature, suspected to be a white tiger. It's found us and is quickly approaching!"

"Engage." Torune's tone was calm and collected.

Roar!

A fierce tiger jumped out from the thicket in front of them, and the group met it head-on. Without Bisuke's warning in advance, perhaps they would be caught unprepared.

But right now, the group had long anticipated.

Firstly, the old Gu Master on the right suddenly drummed up his cheeks and then spit out a white coloured, viscous substance.

The substance abruptly expanded in mid-air, becoming a huge spider net. It used its strong viscosity and trapped the white tiger full in the face.

The white tiger struggled fiercely in the net, and Torune immediately stepped forward and brandished his fist, pounding onto the tiger's head.

His fist had a golden luster flashing through, and with a bang, the tiger's head was smashed into pieces. The white tiger died in one breath.

The group did not stop to stay behind, but instead walked over the tiger's body and continued forward. Bisuke took Torune's place again and ran in front, taking the lead.

Through the entire process it was like moving clouds and flowing water. All the group members displayed mutual understanding.

"That entire process did not take more than three seconds. If it was me right now who was taking on that tiger alone, I would need at least five minutes to contend with." Yami's gaze was flashing.

These Gu Masters were also Rank two like him, but the main disparity was still Gu worms.

They all used Rank two Gu worms, and this enabled them to bring out the best in each other. However, all the Gu in Yami's hands were still Rank one.

Gu Master, Gu Master, the word Gu is before the word Master, signifying that Gu worms have a huge impact on a Gu Master's fighting power.

"Although I have advanced to Rank two, I still need to have Rank two Gu to be able to display the fighting power of a Rank two Gu Master. However right now I do not have many primeval stones on me, I have used up a huge portion from breaking into Rank two. Refining two Gu worms together will also use up a considerable amount of primeval stones."

As Yami thought of this, Bisuke who was in front of him suddenly said, "I found the sickly snake's group."

"Found the sickly snake group in front, they are currently contesting with a large-sized wild beast." Only half a second later, Bisuke said again, this time more specific.

"What's the situation?" Torune frowned.

"There's no mistake," Bisuke's snake tongue continued to stretch and shrink, "Orochimaru's red lava python is the only one in the entire village, and now they are fighting against... wild boar king!"

Everyone's expression changed.

"Wild boar king... If I want to combine Gu worms, I require the wild boar's tusks. Undoubtedly, the wild boar king's tusks are the most suitable." Yami's heart stirred, and in actuality he had the intention to kill the wild boar king from the start.

"That wild boar king?" Watery blue hair female Gu Master raised her brows.

"Other than that one, there is no other in the vicinity. But relying on just the strength of the sickly snake group to reap the wild boar king, their appetite is too big." The old Gu Master sneered in disdain.

If Old man Wang could grasp the terrain of the mountain himself, these Rank two Gu Masters who were always roaming around on Elemental Mountain would obviously be more familiar with it. Not eliminating the wild boar king before this, they had their reasons.

Torune pondered, then said, "Go support them."

"Hehe, I'm afraid they might not reciprocate." The old Gu Master laughed coldly.

"Even if we do not go and support them, we still have to send someone over, right!" Shino looked at Yami, saying in an unhappy tone.

The team's direction steered towards the left.

Although Torune and the rest always looked down and did not like Orochimaru, but as clansmen, towards outside foes, even if they had amnesty normally, they would group up and work together.

This is the cohesiveness of a clan in this world.

And especially relying on this cohesiveness could a hundred year old clan sustain itself without dying out, even becoming a thousand year old clan.

Everyone moved through the jungle in the darkness, heading towards a low-lying land.

Sickly snake group's four Gu Masters were surrounding the wild boar king, engaging in fierce combat.

In the center, the elephant-like wild boar king was fighting with a thin and long red-coloured python.

This red giant python had dark red rock pieces all over its body, the temperature very high. It was like a thick chain coiling around the wild boar king.

The wild boar king cried out angrily, constantly rolling on the ground, its snow white tusks piercing the darkness and drawing cold light in the air.

Its body was full of big and small injuries, its tail already broken. While flipping around, it revealed its fresh red injuries, stuck to the red lava python's body and scalded by the high temperature.

The Torune group did not get closer, but observed from a distance.

Taking a few looks, the old Gu Master was enlightened, "I say, how did the sickly snake have this courage. Looks like the wild boar king was actually injured already, tsk, he sure picked up the cheap goods, this scoundrel got lucky.

"Do you guys think that this wild boar king's body would have the Black Boar Gu?" Shino excitedly said with glowing eyes.

Yami's expression was unchanged as he watched silently.

At this time, Orochimaru and his gang also realised the situation of being watched, and immediately the support Gu Master Mitsuki who was the furthest away from the wild boar king left the battlefield and ran over.

"Oh, it is Lord Torune. There's no problems here now, we can handle it. There are many wild beast groups in front, they need your support." Mitsuki said to the people.

"Hmph, what do you mean you can handle it? You're clearly lying through your teeth, I can see that this python isn't going to hang in there much longer." The old Gu Master's experienced gaze revealed the situation at once.

"You're just afraid of us wanting to split the rewards after helping," the watery blue long-haired female Gu Master immediately pointed out Orochimaru and his gang's intention.

"This wild boar king is yours," Torune said, looking at the old Gu Master.

The old Gu Master snorted, but he still bent down, vomiting out a piece of white sticky spider web.

The spider web expanded in the air and spread out, enveloping the wild boar king.

The wild boar king struggled intensely in the web, breaking threads after threads, but it could not get free quickly.

During this period, sickly snake Orochimaru quickly got the red lava python to retreat. After that, together with the healing female Gu Master in the group, they underwent emergency battle healing on the python.

In the fierce battle earlier, the red lava python's rock body already had some cracks. Through the healing, the cracks mended, shrinking until they disappeared.

"Yami, you should go back. You still want to depend on our group?" Shino said in annoyance.

Yami took a step out and walked out from behind Torune.

Mitsuki was blocked by Torune's huge body earlier and did not see him. At the moment when he saw Yami, his expression turned weird.

Orochimaru turned his head around and upon seeing Yami, was overjoyed at once, "Yami, you're finally here! Quick, the spider web is not going to hold, you have huge strength, go and restrain the wild boar king and buy us time. We need time to heal the red lava python."

Without a defensive Gu and only with Rank one cultivation, getting close to the wild boar king was nothing but risky.

Torune took a look at Yami and said, "Go."

Saying so, he took a huge step and left the place.

He kept his word; although the wild boar king had much value, he turned around and left without hesitation.

Seeing Torune's group leaving, Orochimaru and the gang breathed a sigh of relief. From start to finish, they did not say a word of thanks.

Orochimaru continue shouting, "Yami, hurry, the wild boar king's strength is huge, the spider web is not going to hold out. If you perform well this time, I will not pursue the matter of you leaving the team on your own."

"Okay." Yami agreed, quickly getting to the wild boar king and grabbing its two huge tusks.

He used all his strength and pulled, causing the wild boar king to be suppressed, its struggling suddenly diminished.

"Good job!" Orochimaru praised, but his eyes shone with cold light.

This Yami came at a good time, the small beast horde was the perfect chance!

Orochimaru had never thought of killing Yami. Yami was his member, and if he died, the clan's evaluation of him would drop. This did not suit his interests.

He only promised his uncle Mizuki to slow Yami's growth. If he could drag it beyond sixteen years old, he would obtain a fortune promised by Mizuki.

The truth is, even with his scheming and intolerant nature, he did not think of killing Yami before. This is not just because after a Gu Master dies, the punishment hall would hold a thorough investigation, thus being risky, but also because of the clan's belief — Blood is thicker than water, family comes first. This notion is ingrained into the people's hearts. Unless there is a feud of killing one's parents or stealing one's wife, there is no such phenomenon of disputes.

Like how the Konoha clan leader once taught the academy elder, not only does the system and rules hold the clan together, there is also the thick family relationships.

Any organisation would need to have a system and values as their basic core.

"Using this opportunity, I'll let Yami get injured and return to the village to nurse his injuries. Let's see if he can cultivate to Rank two like that! Of course, I cannot strike personally, if I get discovered that would be bad. Since there are so many beasts in the horde anyway, I'll borrow from their strength."

Orochimaru laughed coldly in his heart, but he asked, "Yami, how long can you hold out?"

"A while more, don't worry group leader." Yami replied with much strength.

"Very good, Ino, go and plant the corrosion blood grass Gu," Orochimaru instructed while healing the red lava python.

"Yes!" A female Gu Master walked up.

She came to the side of the wild boar king and stretched out both hands, giving a thumbs up on both hands. The nails on her thumbs had a purple vine insignia coiling around.

Light red coloured red steel primeval essence gushed out and surrounded her white thumb, and entered the insignia.

The vines were brought alive immediately, extending a delicate tentacle from her nails.

The tentacles moved like snakes, extending to the wild boar king's mouth, and then along its teeth, going deep into its stomach.

"Hehehe..." Yami covered his mouth in the darkness as it curled into a devious angle.

Others would think about kinship and not have killing intent on their clansmen, this was going against the traditional moral values of the clan. But he did not put these values into his heart.

The strength he placed on the wild boar king's tusks suddenly vanished.

The wild boar king furiously growled and summoned all its strength. Its tusks swung in the air as Yami who was holding onto both tusks was brought along with the force and was thrown away.

The wild boar king once again turned its head, and the tusks swept through. The female Gu Master was beside it and could not react quickly enough to such a change. She was hit by the tusks and screamed in agony.

Then her slim body, after getting hit by the tusks, broke into two with a snap.

The female Gu Master flew away like a broken bag; she was swept high into the sky, and then plopped down again.

She landed on the ground, her eyes wide open. She was dead on the spot.

The female Gu Master's body was like a ragdoll. From the waist and across it was broken, and her upper body laid on the ground, displayed at an odd angle against her lower body, the arms parallel to the ground while her legs were pointing towards the sky.

From afar, Yami also started to descend.

First, he hit the tree canopy and broke many branches before landing on the snowy ground.

He turned his body nimbly and stood up on the snowy ground. Because he had utilized the Jade Skin Gu earlier, other than some pain in his back, he was unscathed.

On the battlefield, after a momentary silence, Orochimaru's angry howl could be heard, "Yami, didn't you say you could hold on!"

Yami laughed coldly in the dark, but suddenly his body twisted and he almost fell down. He used his hand to hold onto the tree trunk as support and was able to maintain his body balance.

He pretended to limp as if he could not walk, but his gaze swept across the surroundings to see if there was any other Gu Masters.

Against the beast horde, the Gu Masters were fighting with all they had, and could not be free enough or even have the mood to observe Yami. Even though he had been observing in secret and found no Gu Masters nearby, Yami still discreetly chose to hide himself.

From the other side, intense battle noises could be heard again.

Evidently, the wild boar king had escaped its entrapment and was fighting once again with the red lava python.

Yami shifted step by step towards them with a face of anxiety, almost falling onto the ground a few times. Dirt, soil, grass and snow were all over his body, making him appear battered and exhausted.

He finally got back to the fringe of the battlefield.

On the battlefield, three people and a pig were fighting.

The red lava python coiled around the body of the wild boar king and its two hind legs.

The wild boar king's two front legs could only thrash around randomly, causing it to roll on the ground, sometimes struggling. With the movement of its two front legs, it knocked and crashed into things randomly.

There were even more injuries on its body now, the boiling pig blood had dyed the floor red.

Seeing Yami, the outermost positioned Mitsuki said, "Yami, you scum, you caused Ino to die!"

"I… I didn't mean it. But I really couldn't hold it." Yami shouted.

"Fuck, then why did you promise so confidently if you couldn't. No means no, giving false promises like this will kill us all!" Mitsuki furiously screamed. If he was not in combat at the moment, he would go up and give Yami two tight slaps.

"S-Sorry, I won't do it again." Yami quickly yelled back.

"Yami, we'll talk about this later!" Sickly snake Orochimaru roared, feeling his pressure intensify. The almost dead wild boar king had flown into madness, and the red lava python had injuries and cracks all over its body.

"Mitsuki, don't bother with Yami. Quickly take out the knife scale web!" When Orochimaru saw that the red lava python was almost at its breaking point, he shouted in panic with cold sweat all over.

"Yes!" Mitsuki quickly retrieved the big belly frog and used his primeval essence, vomiting a piece of steel web.

On this steel web, there were sharp spikes and apparent blades.

"Yami, grab the other end and rush up with me, we'll entangle the wild boar king." Mitsuki said.

"But my leg is injured, I cannot walk!" Yami said with an anxious expression, crippling his way there.

"Useless thing!" Mitsuki with no other choice, had to do it himself, his hands dragging the knife scales web and throwing it at the wild boar king.

The wild boar king was covered by the knife scale web, causing it to cry out as fresh blood splattered.

It had predicted that its death was impending, and struggled even more fiercely. As its struggle intensified, the knife scale web's entanglement got tighter, and its injuries worsened.

As for the red lava python, because of its rock body, it did not take much damage from this knife scale web.

"What a waste of this fur!" Orochimaru said in pity.

"Finally settled." Mitsuki breathed out in relief.

At this time, Yami shouted, "Let me help you guys!"

Swoosh swoosh swoosh.

Numerous moonblades flew out and hit the knife scale web, causing the steel threads to be torn apart. With the wild boar king's intense struggle, the hole got even bigger and the knife scale web was torn into pieces, allowing the wild boar king to escape.

At once!

Mitsuki stared with bulging eyes, lost for words.

"What… what the fuck..." Another female Gu Master could no longer care about her feminine image and swore loudly.

"I… it seems I messed up. I wanted to help!" Yami said, sounding very sincere and innocent.

Orochimaru dodged the wild boar king's charge, rolling on the floor. Before he even got up, he shouted, "Yami—! You dumb piece of shit, see what you did! You're simply garbage for a teammate!"

"Leader, you must trust me, I didn't mean it," Yami defended himself.

"Shut the fuck up, from now on, do nothing, wait at the corner!" Orochimaru shouted, rolling again and dodging the wild boar king's trample.

Yami snickered, but still obediently took tens of steps back.

"All of you get back!" Orochimaru shouted, finally showing his true trump card as two strands of poisonous yellow air came out from his nostrils.

The poisonous air continued to come out from his nose, growing more and more until they gathered into a lump of yellow poisonous cloud.

The wild boar king and Orochimaru's shadow could be seen outside the poisonous cloud.

Mitsuki, Yami and the others observed outside the yellow cloud.

Yami said to the remaining female Gu Master, "Heal my leg, it's injured!"

The female Gu Master flew into a rage, "My good sister is dead, and your leg is only stumped! Why don't you go and die?!"

Yami said in grievance, "I didn't want this to happen either."

But his eyes shone with a trace of sharpness.

Should I act, and eliminate these people?

It is a chance to act now. In their subconscious minds, they would not expect me to have killing intention.

If the sickly snake group is exterminated, there would be fewer restrictions on me.

But...

If any Gu Master saw this process, I would fall into the abyss. The crime of killing a clansman is the most unforgivable in this world. Not only will I be executed, I would also have to face all sorts of torture for seven days and seven nights.

Death is not scary, but for such a small group, it is not worth the risk.

A pity the wild boar king is dying. After this battle the sickly snake group would be greatly weakened and their battle strength would be at the lowest, they would definitely leave the battlefield. What a pity, this was a godsend opportunity…...

Yami felt regret and pity in his heart.

But he had done it to the greatest limit, and if he exceeded this, the feeling of "sabotage' would thicken. The others were not stupid, they would notice and if other Gu Masters saw this, the risk would intensify.

Five minutes later, the wild boar king plopped onto the ground.

The yellow cloud dissipated, and Orochimaru breathed loudly with a pale face. He had used his final trump card, and now he had little to no primeval essence left.

"All of you come here and dissect the corpse quickly, we will retreat after taking the spoils of the battle!" Orochimaru shouted.

Yami surrounded the wild boar king and quickly began to dissect the corpse.

The wild boar king's blood was still hot, and the smell of blood was thick. Throughout the surrounding forest that was enshrouded in darkness, there were continuous howls from wild beasts and intense battle noises.

But there were no wild beasts in this tiny battlefield.

This was the authority of the beast king.

There were rules among the wild beasts.

The thick aura of the wild boar king caused other wild beasts to shrink in fear, and if the beast horde came here, they would find their way around this region. Of course, if it was another stronger beast horde or another beast king, they would not care about the wild boar king's aura.

At this time, pairs of blue eyes glowed in the surrounding darkness.

From other places, blood-curdling screeches and alarmed cries of Gu Masters could be heard.

"It's the wolves, the wolf pack!"

"The lightning wolf pack actually appeared!"

"Damn it, why is there a wolf pack here, it is still not the time for the outburst of the wolf tide right?!"

"Retreat, forget the wild boar king, we have to retreat quickly!" Orochimaru shouted, and the faces of the surrounding people also turned white.

One lightning wolf was not scary. But a pack of lightning wolves, even the wild boar king would have to run.

Most importantly, the lightning wolves' durability and endurance were high. They also had great speed, being most proficient at chasing.

At such a critical moment, Orochimaru could no longer care about the others, abandoning the three and running for his life.

"Group leader, wait for me," Mitsuki shouted in panic, catching up to him.

"I do not have a Gu worm that enhances my speed, I can't escape. Orochimaru and the others have no primeval essence left, so even if they have a speed-type Gu, they can't escape the chase of the lightning wolves!" Under the danger of death, Yami evaluated calmly.

He quickly hit the neck of the female Gu Master near him who was in a daze, causing her to faint.

Next, by dragging her, he burrowed into the wild boar king's stomach that was cut open.

The wild boar king's stomach was already cut open with a huge wound.

Yami squeezed his way into the bloody wild boar's body, at the same time using the female Gu Master's body to block away the entrance and cover up his body.

The wolf pack quickly descended, mostly chasing after Orochimaru and Mitsuki, while a portion of them surrounded the wild boar king and feasted.

While Yami was inside the wild boar's body, he could hear the wolves' chewing and swallowing, as well as their biting, causing vibrations in the corpse.

"To think that the first beast horde had lightning wolves, this is a surprise, the clan would definitely send reinforcements. The wild boar king's body is huge, so if the lightning wolves want to eat it completely, they would still need some time. As long as I can hold out, I would be spared from them."

Yami pondered deeply.

Without accident, Orochimaru and Mitsuki should be dead meat. They had little primeval essence and were not speed oriented, so with such a small distance, they would definitely get slaughtered by the wolves.

When people panic, they would make dumb decisions. Under the pressure of death, there are little who can remain as calm as Yami and make the most appropriate decisions.

Even if the wild boar king's flesh was all eaten, exposing Yami who was hiding, the amount of lightning wolves that Yami would have to deal with is definitely lesser than the others. According to his experience, at most five would appear, which would be his limit. He had much greater chance of surviving.

The lightning wolves continued to chew and bite, the sound indicating that they were getting closer. The wild boar king's flesh had mostly gone into the lightning wolves' stomach.

If a normal person was in such a predicament, they would feel as if the seconds that were passing by were like an eternity. But instead Yami closed his eyes and took out his primeval stones, fighting against time to recover his primeval essence.

The primeval essence that Yami recovered while in the boar's stomach went unused ultimately.

The beast horde this time was under the supervision of the Konoha higher-ups, and the lightning wolf gang was just a small accident. Quickly, the Konoha higher-ups gave their response.

Three clan elders led their respective teams and swiftly grasped the situation.

Merely ten minutes later, Yami could hear fighting sounds from outside the boar's stomach, as well as the cries of the lightning wolves.

He quickly kicked the female Gu Master out, and crawled out with blood stains all over him.

Yami was naturally not afraid of the lightning wolves, but he was afraid of getting caught in the battle. If a Gu Master accidentally attacked the corpse, wouldn't he be too unlucky, by then who can he hold responsibility for?

With a big living person suddenly crawling out from the boar's stomach, this caused the few Gu Masters fighting the lightning wolves to be taken aback.

Yami's entire body was a bloody mess, and his leg was still entangled in the wild boar king's intestines. His entire body emitted a nose-piercing bloody smell, and the few Gu Masters frowned in response.

But Yami paid no heed to that, he breathed deeply in enjoyance, extending his limbs and observing the battlefield.

As he had predicted, there were five lightning wolves.

But these lightning wolves were either old or injured. They were the bottom of the pack's hierarchy. As the wolf pack got stronger and bigger, in order to protect the young and healthy lightning wolves, the wolf king would expel all these old and sickly wolves in order to allocate resources efficiently.

These lightning wolves gathered together and rushed towards the surrounding beast groups, and under each other's influence, eventually formed this small beast horde.

The five lightning wolves quickly had casualties under the Gu Masters' attacks.

They were too full from eating, and their stomachs expanded, affecting their battle strength. At the same time, new arriving Gu Masters had sufficient primeval essence in their aperture and had their peak battle strength, unlike Orochimaru and the rest.

Primeval essence was especially important to Gu Masters. A weakened phoenix is inferior to a chicken, with less primeval essence, a Gu Master's battle strength would fall rapidly. And without primeval essence, they were even inferior to mortals.

Why do you think for example, the Liquor worm, Black and White Boar Gu, these Gu were so precious?

It had to do with this fact.

Firstly, with the Liquor worm, it can refine primeval essence and allow Gu Masters to store much more primeval essence. (Remember that higher tier essence is essentially double of the previous tier 88% Mid tier = 44% Upper tier)

And the Black and White Boar Gu worms gave Gu Masters strength. Without requiring primeval essence, they can unleash their worth. And for the Black and White Boar Gu, once one person has used them, they can be given to another person to use, showing great collective value in a group.

The battle continued for a while and stopped.

The five lightning wolves continued to fall, and the new reinforcement group did not venture further. Their primeval essence had been used up nearly, and their battle strength had been greatly reduced. To be safe, they stopped on the spot. As they recovered, they awaited further reinforcements.

A group of five, with the reconnaissance Gu Master keeping alert while the other three used primeval stones to recover their primeval essence, the healing Gu Master bent down and observed the female Gu Master's corpse.

"She's dead..." Healing Gu Master sighed deeply. Seeing his sad expression, it seemed like he knew the female Gu Master.

Yami watched coldly.

This female Gu Master which he had knocked unconscious was blocking in front of him. Now she had lost her right chest, and a leg. Her arm was also greatly injured by the wolves, eaten until the bones could be seen.

But these injuries and the massive loss of blood was not the true cause of her death.

What caused her demise, was cardiac arrest.

The lightning wolves' bites carried electric currents with them. The currents flowed into the female Gu Master's body while she was unconscious, and caused her to have a heart attack.

The originally beautiful and sexy body was now lying on the ground, still and unmoving. Her previous glamour was nowhere to be found, being just an ugly dead corpse now.

"She's dead, and it is all your fault! As a man, why did you hide behind a woman? You're a disgrace to men!" The healing Gu Master looked up, staring at Yami.

Yami shrugged emotionlessly, his expression calm, "The truth is, she competed with me over the spot, but eventually I won, so I'm very glad about the results."

"Scumbag!" The healing Gu Master rushed up.

Bam.

Yami raised his feet and sent him flying.

Healing Gu Masters were normally weak at combat, and because of the clan rules, he did not dare to use his Gu worms. Just competing with physical strength, how can he be Yami's match?

"This detestable guy!" Healing Gu Master crawled up with a dusty face and wanted to rush up again, but was stopped by the reconnaissance Gu Master.

"If you think I committed a crime and caused her to die, you can report it to the punishment hall, I'll take it," Yami said lightly as he stared at the healing Gu Master, and left.

"Damn! Damn it!" The healing Gu Master's eyes were blowing fire as he stared at Yami's backview, urging to rush up but was restrained by his teammates.

"Calm the hell down!"

"Even if you report it to the punishment hall, the clan won't punish him!"

"We know you liked her, but although the clan cannot punish him, we can spread this matter out..."

Under the urging of his teammates, the healing Gu Master calmed down and lowered his head, crying.

"A boat encountered trouble, a man grabbed onto a wooden plank and was temporarily saved. At this time, another man swam up and wanted to grab the plank as well, but this plank can only hold the weight of one man, so the first man pushed the second man away so that he could be safe, causing the other person to drown in the sea. The rescued man was later tried in court but declared not guilty. This is the wooden plank incident on earth."

"Meaning, to save oneself under forced circumstances, endangering another person's life is no crime. On Earth, it is the Necessity Law. In this world, there are similar clan rules. This means, even if the healing Gu Master reports it to the punishment hall, I will not be punished. But..."

Yami continued to walk as he pondered. He moved in a steady pace without any rush.

Along the path that had been cleared, Yami would discover corpses, the majority of these being wild beasts of all kinds of varieties, and in the mix were some Gu Master corpses.

At the same time, there were small rescue groups rushing to the front lines. When they met Yami on the way, they would look at this bloody young man with curious and confused gazes.

Yami paid no attention to them. His eyes were a dark abyss, continuing his train of thought.

"But…..." If the fact that I knocked the female Gu Master unconscious was found out, I would be tried for 'harming a clansman'. Yet at that time, nobody should have seen it, Orochimaru and Mitsuki were all looking at a different direction and rushing for their lives. Eh?"

Yami's footsteps came to a halt.

He saw the corpses of Mitsuki and Orochimaru.

The former's body had already been eaten until it was unrecognisable, while the latter's corpse was still well preserved.

The red lava python was already a pile of lava rocks, completely dead. And beside the sickly snake, there were a few lightning wolves' corpses. Evidently Orochimaru's final struggle caused a huge battle.

"Good, that means that other than me, everyone else is dead." Yami evaluated internally, feeling joy.

"This means I would have fewer restrictions around me…. Eh?" Yami stopped, he saw Orochimaru's finger twitch softly.

"Not dead, what a stubborn life…" Yami snickered, killing intent rising again.

At this point, there was tens of healing Gu Masters coming from the front.

"Quick, save the injured!"

"They are our clansmen, we have to save what we can!"

"If they are confirmed dead, retrieved their Gu worms."

Yami's gaze concentrated.

What to do?

They were so close, he would have to take a huge risk to kill Orochimaru. Whether using strangulation or a moonblade, there will be traces.

In front of these Gu Masters, he had no time to clear the traces.

So... let him live?

Even if Orochimaru is treated now, he might not survive.

NO!

"If I can exterminate Orochimaru, there would be a lot lesser opposition in my way. Such an opportunity, if lost, I would have a hard time finding another one."

Thinking of this, Yami had an inspiration.

He gradually half-kneeled beside Orochimaru, removing his upper shirt and covering Orochimaru's face and upper body.

He was inside the boar's stomach for a long time, so the pig's blood had soaked his shirt, causing it to be heavy and wet.

He put the upperwear on Orochimaru's nose and mouth, preventing him from breathing.

Yami half-kneeled, silently watching, his expression solemn and pained.

At this point, a Gu Master came over, "Little lad, I am the medicine hall's Gu Master, let me take a look..."

"Scram!" Yami growled angrily, pushing him away.

The Gu Master fell on the ground, but he was not angry, instead consoling him, "Little brother, my condolences! I know how you feel right now and I know how it feels to see the clansmen that you live with die in front of you. But you are covered in blood now, you must be heavily injured. For the sake of these sacrificed clansmen, you have to live properly. Come, let me heal you."

Yami did not open his mouth. He remained silent, the lower half of his face covered in a dark shadow. He allowed this Gu Master to check his body.

The result was rather surprising. Although Yami was bathed in blood, appearing terrifying to everyone, he actually had no injuries at all!

But the Gu Master quickly collected his spirits, concentrating on Orochimaru.

"I'm very sorry, the clan needs to take back the Gu worms." The Gu Master sincerely looked at Yami, then he lifted the bloody shirt slowly off Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's eyes were half open without any life in them.

The Gu Master professionally used his finger to prop open Orochimaru's eyelids, looking at his iris and then touching his neck. But he felt no pulse.

Dead.

Completely dead.

The Gu Master did not suspect anything. He sighed and placed his hand on Orochimaru's stomach.

His stomach still had some warmth and the aperture was slowly disappearing; there were no Gu worms inside.

The Gu Master looked at Yami, whether intentionally or unintentionally, "Every Gu Master's Gu worm is stated in writing, and after a Gu Master dies, his Gu worms will be treated as an inheritance for his inheritor. Taking it for oneself is against the clan rules."

Yami was fearless, staring right at the Gu Master, "Of course I know that. You suspect that I took the group leader's Gu worms?"

Taking these Gu worms involved risks and trouble. If his secrets were dragged out, they would bring more loss than gain. Yami knew this, even if with the Spring Autumn Cicada he could instantly refine any Gu, it was difficult to do in the clan. It was not worth inviting such troubles for these minute gains.

Apart from than this, there was another point — with his financial status now, even if he got them, he might not be able to feed them.

To Yami's question, the Gu Master laughed quickly, "I did not mean that! People cannot come back to life after dying, so please restrain your grief, little brother. For the sake of the deceased, you have to live even better!"

Yami gradually stood up.

He used an extremely sad and pained expression, staring at sickly snake's corpse with rapt attention.

The night wind howled in his ears.

"You are right." After a while, Yami broke the silence, his gaze determined, saying with an intentional meaning, "For the sake of those who died, I have to live even better than before."


	17. Kindly Enlightening An Ignorant Old Man

**Kindly Enlightening An Ignorant Old Man**

Internal affairs hall, interrogation room.

The light of the winter sun shone on the ground through the only window.

Fine dust particles slowly floated on the light pillar.

The light pillar enshrouded a chair.

Yami was sitting on that chair, bathing in the sunshine.

In the darkness ahead of him was a long table where three elders were seated.

The interrogation had already continued for an hour.

"Yami, are you sure there are no mistakes in your narration?" An elder asked.

"Yes." Yami's eyes were down, looking at his toes. The sunshine shone on his fair face, making him look like a white sculpture.

He had already expected this situation.

After all, all his group members had died except him.

In fact, every Gu Master would go through a certain degree of interrogation which conveniently helped the clan to gather battle statistics. But, Yami was continuously interrogated for an hour; clearly, someone was making it difficult for him from behind the scenes.

This was completely understandable.

As long as one was human and had social relations, there would be series of people involved.

"Then narrate your account on the battle situation at that time again." The elder continued to ask.

"Okay. I used several days to breakthrough to Rank two. Upon returning to the village gate, I met Torune group… and reunited with Orochimaru group after finding them. At that time, they were having a fierce fight with the wild boar king…" Yami calmly narrated.

He took the initiative to reveal his breakthrough to Rank two. With no concealing Gu worm, he wouldn't be able to conceal his Rank two aura.

Now the sickly snake and the team were dead, so he naturally fabricated the events. But, he could only conceal some main details and narrate the majority of the events as they were.

This was already the fifth time Yami narrated the events. The three elders frowned as they listened.

They couldn't find any holes, but they knew - if it was fabricated, then there would be unnecessary details. After one kept on talking about it several times, there would naturally be holes. But after five times, although there were some differences in how Yami narrated the events, the contents were the same.

"It should be true." The three elders communicated with each other using eye signals.

But one elder was not satisfied.

Her daughter was the sickly snake group's healing Gu Master whom she loved dearly but ended up dying a cruel death in the wolves' mouths. Thus she was very angry and her gaze carried coldness as she looked at Yami.

"Yami, you cut the knife scales net with your moonblades, why did you do it?" This middle-aged female elder spoke sternly.

"Because I wanted to have some contributions, but it ended up being a bad move." Yami replied.

"Then let me ask you, did you intentionally use your teammate - the female Gu Master - as a shield when you hid in the boar's stomach?" The elder asked again.

"I don't know. I was very scared at that time and hurriedly tried to hide inside the boar king, but she also entered inside and fought me for the inside position. She couldn't defeat me and was bitten to death by the lightning wolves. I am ashamed." Yami answered.

The middle-aged female elder grinded her teeth. Yami's answer was cunning, he only stated the fact but didn't mention his subjective intentions at all. This made the elders who wanted to suppress him, not find any handle on him; their hearts were filled with anger but they couldn't do anything.

Under such situation, they couldn't judge Yami guilty.

It had already been three days since the small beast tide.

The statistics of the casualties made all the higher ups have ugly expressions.

There were losses in the past small beast tides too but they were definitely not as grave as this. The cause was the lightning wolves pack. Before, these lightning wolves packs would only appear after at least three waves of small beast tide.

The environment was dangerous in this world; survival, difficult.

From a human standpoint, to survive, apart from fighting with other humans for resources, they still had to struggle against fierce beasts and nasty weathers.

And these struggles were often very difficult.

The small beast tide was still only a prelude. The real terror would be the large wolf tide, a year after. Tens of thousands of lightning wolves would charge towards the village with the terrifyingly powerful lightning wolf king.

The female elder continued to ask several questions but she had to finally give up under Yami's invulnerable answers.

"Then Yami, what do you plan to do from now on?" Another elder asked with deep intention.

"I plan to apply for the family assets, inheriting and continuing my family's heritage." Yami spoke openly, there was no need to conceal it.

Sickly snake group was destroyed and now only Yami was left. Because of this, he didn't have to use Rank two Gu Master's right to give up a mission and could accept the family assets mission.

The elder nodded his head then shook his head, "You didn't understand my meaning. Apart from you, your group is no more. I can give you a suggestion: Join another group. Internal affairs hall's missions difficulty is designed for groups, it is very difficult for a lone person to complete them. Whether it is your family inheritance mission or the compulsory monthly missions, they are both like this."

Yami was silent.

This elder continued, "Of course, there is another option. You are already a Rank two Gu Master. You have the qualifications to become a group captain. You just need to pass the examination mission and you can build your own group. Which do you want to choose?"

Yami blinked his eyes: "I don't know yet, I need some time to consider."

"Then you can leave. Think it over as soon as possible. After a few days pass, it will be difficult for you to join a group," the elder said concernedly.

Yami sneered inwardly, he wouldn't choose any of these two paths.

He had a lot of secrets. Only by himself could he be safe and do things properly. Otherwise, wouldn't he be annoyed to death if there were others with him all the time?

Leaving this interrogation room, Yami didn't immediately leave the internal affairs hall but instead applied for the family inheritance mission. However, he was informed that he could only take it after three days due to the busy events recently.

Coming out of the internal affairs hall, he gazed at the sky.

It was just an ordinary winter afternoon.

The winter was bleak along with biting wind. The sky seemed to be pervaded with deep grief.

"Today is group memorial assembly. Tenten is dead, did you know, Fang Yuan?" Kiba, along with a group of youths, were walking through the path.

Other than Kiba, there were Naruto, Shino and others.

Kiba and Shino normally hated each other very much, but today, they seemed to forget this grievance and walked together.

"Big brother, Tenten studied with us for a year. Come with us." Naruto said.

Konoha Jin Zhu…

A girl's image immediately appeared in Yami's mind.

Previously, she had been evenly matched with Kiba on the arena but lost because of her lacking stamina. She was a hardworking girl.

But, death didn't discriminate between beauty and ugly.

Most people would feel pity, but Yami was indifferent as usual.

"Ah, she is dead? But dying of old or sickness, they are both normal events. After seeing it many times you'll be indifferent to it. You guys go, I am busy." Yami brushed past the group.

"This guy!" At once, many among the group were angered.

"He is really cold-blooded and heartless…"

"He simply doesn't have a feeling of friendship!"

"Hehe, there is a rumor going around recently. You should have all heard it, right? The reason Yami survived was because he hid inside a boar's stomach and used his female Gu Master teammate as a shield."

"He is really a disgrace with no worth. He doesn't even have the manners of a man." Shino folded his arms and laughed coldly.

"Big brother…" Naruto lowered his head and grinded his teeth.

Hearing these discussions, as Yami's little brother, he felt shame.

Yami left and as he walked farther, the mockeries behind him gradually couldn't be heard anymore.

His heart was calm.

"Why would insults matter to me?"

Insults were insults, what could they do?

A superficial person would be angry due to curses and would be happy due to praises.

These were just bystanders' way of looking at you. Those who lived according to other's point of view were really pitiful, like that dumbass Naruto.

In fact, some people had deliberately spread the rumors to degrade Yami's name.

Sacrificing a female teammate to protect oneself wouldn't be subjected to punishment, but would be criticized by moral consensus.

But, this was the exact situation Yami wanted.

Once one enters the system, one would be a pawn with no freedom and must follow the system's rules. To Yami, it was a huge obstacle, he needed resources and even more needed to be solitary.

So, he wanted to be a loner.

What if you were rejected by the crowd? Haha, only weak-hearted people would be afraid of being rejected.

In this world, if the cultivation was strong, one person could beat ten, hundreds and thousands of enemies. So what if you were rejected, just kill the ones who block your path. If you don't have resources, snatch them.

Every world had different rules and regulations, the society structure was also bound to be different, causing the difference in human behaviours.

And in a world of martial arts, group thoughts were rather weak.

So in this world —

Devils run amuck.

"What? That lad, he's a Rank two Gu Master now, and even applied for the asset-splitting mission from the internal affairs hall!" Uncle Mizuki's furious and shocked voice reverberated throughout the main hall.

"That is indeed so. Although I accepted your primeval stones, I cannot do much to stop him, I only managed to tell him to collect the mission in three days. I can only stall that long for you, that is my limit." The middle-aged Gu Master beside him said.

Mizuki snorted in his heart, he could sense the hidden meaning in the internal affairs hall's Gu Master's words.

'Stall for three days, it is the limit', such words were merely an excuse to extort even more money.

"But, top priority now is still to do all I can to retain the assets. This rascal is really too troubling!" Mizuki's sweat poured from his forehead as Yami's growth was so rapid it gave him the feeling of a heart attack.

"I came here especially to tell you this, so I'll take my leave now." The middle-aged man stood up to depart.

"Don't be in such a rush, brother. There are some things I still need for you to assist me a little with." Mizuki hurriedly stood up, retrieving a money bag and stuffing it into the middle-aged Gu Master's hand.

The male Gu Master took the entire bag of primeval stones and stuffed it into his chest pocket, his tone quickly changing, laughing loudly. "Brother Mizuki, you are too polite. We have such a great relationship, we've known each other for over ten years. Don't worry, I will prepare the toughest mission for Yami, but he might employ other Gu Masters to help him. You have to watch out for this."

"Hehehe, you can be rest assured. Although I have retired, I still have my relationships, I've sent people to observe him. If that lad employs outsiders, that is against the clan rules, and I am still waiting to get a hold of his weakness. Hehe..."

"Then I am at ease, goodbye."

"Let me send you out."

"It is okay, please stay."

Mizuki stared at the leaving Gu Master, his smile slowly collapsing.

"This Yami, he is only C grade, how can he advance to Rank two so soon?! Dammit, what were Orochimaru and the others doing! Can't even guard against a newbie."

"Sigh, now Orochimaru and the team were all killed by the beast horde, what incompetent fools. Yami also advanced to Rank two, this way he can definitely receive the family asset mission. My previous methods to block him will no longer work. But he is now working alone, and aiming to complete the asset inheritance mission alone is really difficult."

"No! This lad's luck is absurd, first I got Orochimaru and the rest to suppress him, and immediately the beast horde came. If he relies on this luck again and completes the mission, what then? I have to prepare for the worst!"

An old sly fox, Mizuki being able to enter and leave the fighting life peacefully and live up until now, it represented success already.

Compared to the newly independent Yami, his interpersonal relationships were much stronger.

"Collecting honey wine?" When Yami received the asset mission, his eyes shone with cold glimmer.

This mission was very troublesome, it was to collect five pounds of golden bee's honey wine. Golden bees were all fist-sized with gold and black stripes, and they had a sharp stinger packed with a strong attack.

That was not all. Among normal small hives, there was only honey. Only those large or medium hives had the precious honey wine made from a large accumulation of honey.

"This mission, even for a five-man group, is very difficult. Because the number of people no longer matter, the Gu Master collecting honey wine has to have a defensive-type Gu to withstand the stings. It seems that uncle's relationship has struck and is bullying my lack of a defensive Gu worm. Unfortunately for him... " Yami laughed coldly in his heart.

At this point, it showed the inherent benefits of the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.

Easy to do things secretly, difficult to do things openly.

The more one worked openly, the more their trump cards get revealed, and they become easier to trap. Conversely, working secretly helps to hide trump cards and lets others be unable to assess your situation, thus not being able to nip the problem in the bud.

"But, if I want to collect honey wine, the Jade Skin Gu isn't enough. Jade Skin Gu is only a Rank one Gu, but if it can advance to the Rank two White Jade Gu, I would be able to do it easily."

WIthout the need to attempt to take risks, his rich life experience allowed him to take less pointless steps.

Speaking of which, Yami is already a Rank two initial stage Gu Master, but the Gu worms on him, other than the Spring Autumn Cicada, were all Rank one Gu worms.

This situation is like a grown man who is able to wield a halberd only holding a small dagger. The dagger is unable to display the full extent of the man's strength, and only with a halberd is it the most suitable.

Yami had seven Gu worms in his possession.

The vital Gu Spring Autumn Cicada, Moonlight Gu, Liquor worm, White Boar Gu, Jade Skin Gu and two Little Light Gu.

In this mix, the Moonlight Gu can fuse with the two Little Light Gu to form the Moonglow Gu. The White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu can fuse into White Jade Gu.

Moonglow Gu represents a surge in attack power, while White Jade Gu is an increase in defense.

If Yami had enough primeval stones, he would choose to refine them both. But not long ago, in order to push his cultivation to Rank two, he expended most of his primeval stones. Now, with the primeval stones on hand, it was only enough for one use.

"Undoubtedly, choosing to refine the White Jade Gu is a better choice. With the White Jade Gu, I can retrieve the honey wine. And with the White Jade Gu, I can advance better in the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance. But if this fusion fails, the results will be dire. My finances are on the brink of collapse, so without the White Jade Gu, I cannot get my parent's assets. Stuck at this point, it will greatly slow my growth."

Yami felt a subtle pressure.

He knew that he was at a crossroad, and if this fusion succeeds, the future is bright. If he fails, then he would fall into the abyss. To get back to the current point, he would need even more effort in management and spend a longer time.

…...

"Gu Masters use their primeval sea as the base, and Gu worms as the method. Gu is a Gu Master's necessity, without Gu they are not Gu Masters. Other than their own cultivation, Gu Masters also have to refine, nurture and use Gu."

In the room, clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi meticulously explained to Naruto.

"Refine, nurture, and use. These three aspects, whichever one is also a huge knowledge trove. Even if you spend an entire lifetime, you cannot completely finish it. On the aspect of refining Gu, you already know how to refine a Gu and make it yours. But this is only a single refinement. There is also the more important aspect of fusion.

"Through fusion, you can fuse multiple Gu worms into one with a higher rank. This is the evolution of life. Naruto, you are already a Rank two Gu Master, but your Gu worms are all Rank one. It is time you refine a Rank two Gu worm."

Naruto asked, "Clan leader, how do I do fusion?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "To fuse, you have to know the recipe. Some Gu worms cannot be fused together. Through many eons of trial and error, and endless failures, our ancestors have come up with several recipes. Our Konoha clan has the most in-depth research with the Moonlight Gu, and we now have two Rank five recipes on hand."

"What is a Rank five recipe?"

"In accordance to this recipe, through multiple fusions, one can finally refine up to a Rank five Gu worm. Naruto, you have one Jade Skin Gu and a Moonlight Gu on hand, it satisfies the condition for one of the Rank five recipes. If you follow this recipe, you will get the Rank five Gu eventually — Moonlight Treasure King Gu!"

"Moonlight Treasure King Gu?" Naruto's face was full of desire.

"Hehehe, telling you about a Rank five Gu now is still too early. Come, take out your Jade Skin and Moonlight Gu, I'll teach you how to fuse these two Gu into the Rank two Moon Raiment!"

Saying so, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned solemn, "The most important thing about fusing Gu is parallel thinking, fusing your consciousness. The Moonlight Gu and Jade Skin Gu in your hands now have no wild consciousness anymore, overwritten by your own consciousness. What you have to do now is to fuse these two thoughts together."

"Fuse together?" Naruto blinked, confused.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, "No worries, practise more, you will be able to grab hold of this feeling. Let's begin."

"Mm." Naruto nodded, and under Hiruzen Sarutobi's guidance, his light red-coloured red steel primeval essence rose like smoke, enveloping the Jade Skin Gu and the Moonlight Gu in midair.

Naruto shut his eyes, feeling and manipulating the two Gu worm's consciousness.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was outside watching, and saw the Jade Skin Gu and Moonlight Gu circling each other like two planets.

As the consciousness fused, the distance between the two Gu worms shortened.

After three hours of continuous tries, their consciousness was finally controlled by Naruto, and fused together perfectly.

At once, the Jade Skin Gu and Moonlight Gu both erupted in a bright white light.

The two lights linked together, forming a lump as big as a face.

"Maintain this condition, and throw primeval stones into the light." Hiruzen Sarutobi advised.

Naruto took out a primeval stone and threw it into the light.

Strangely, after throwing the primeval stones in, the stones turned into a surge of pure natural essence, completely fusing with the lump of light. Only rock powder remained, scattering on the bed.

"Continue throwing until the Rank two Gu is complete." Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

Naruto was about to throw a second piece, but at this point, the light disappeared, and the two Gu flew in two opposite directions like they were pushed away ruthlessly by each other.

The fusion failed.

"Damn, I forgot to maintain the fusion of the consciousness earlier." Naruto immediately realized his mistake.

"No worries, failing at the start is normal." Hiruzen Sarutobi consoled, but reminded, "But be careful, you cannot fail too many times, if not both the Moonlight and Jade Skin Gu will perish."

Naruto recalled back the Jade Skin Gu and Moonlight Gu, and found cracks on the Moonlight Gu's surface, while the Jade Skin Gu looked like it was weakened.

His heart sank, feeling the difficulty of refining Gu.

Crash...

Great waves tumbled in the primeval sea, rising up and down.

The sea was light-red in color. This was not the green copper sea of a Rank one, but a red steel sea.

The aperture was covered with a layer of light coating; this was the appearance of Rank two initial stage.

The whole red steel primeval essence sea occupied 44% of the aperture. Above the sea, the Spring Autumn Cicada appeared.

After going through a year of recuperation, it had already somewhat recovered.

Previously, there was no shine from its body, it looked rough and dim like withered wood. Now, it had some gloss to it.

Its two wings had been like the yellowed and withered leaves of autumn and the tips had been damaged. Now, there was some green to it and there were black leaf lines on its tips, making a complete arc without any previous defect.

"Spring Autumn Cicada, spring and autumn… I see now, it needs to experience the changes of spring and autumn to recover. Since rebirth, a year has passed by, which means a turn of spring and autumn, and so it has recovered."

Yami looked at the Spring Autumn Cicada and this thought rose within him, increasing his understanding of the Spring Autumn Cicada by another stage.

A Gu Master needs to refine, nurture and use Gu. Among them 'use' was further classified and contained myriads of variations. Yami had been in contact with the Spring Autumn Cicada all the time; his comprehension of the Spring Autumn Cicada was slowly accumulating and deepening.

"But the Spring Autumn Cicada is still weak, it has only moved a few steps away from nearing death. I can only use its aura to suppress Gu worms and increase the efficiency of single refining. As for fusing, it won't be of any help."

There were mystical Gu worms that raised the success rate of fusion. Everything had their own specialties; the Spring Autumn Cicada possessed the ability of rebirth.

Other than the Spring Autumn Cicada, there was the fat Liquor worm which was curled up in a round ball, floating and playing around in the sea.

The ladybug-like White Boar Gu and the Jade Skin Gu which had green jade color were revolving around each other.

Yami opened his eyes and slowly unfolded his right palm. In it were the imprints of a crescent moon and two five-sided stars.

They were precisely the residence of the Moonlight Gu and the two Little Light Gu.

Yami sat cross-legged on the bed, his line of sight falling on the bed sheet.

There were three money bags on the bed sheet; two were bulging and one was mostly thinned out. Apart from this, there was also a snow-white tusk from the wild boar king. It looked like an elephant's tusk, lying close to Yami's leg on the bed sheet.

Sickly snake group had used all their strength to kill the wild boar king, but they met with the lightning wolf pack's attacks and the majority of the skin and flesh of the wild boar king had been eaten away by the lightning wolves. The two snow white tusks were thus the most valuable spoils of war.

According to the clan's rules and regulations, Yami - being one of the members in killing the wild boar king - received one of the wild boar king's tusks.

Yami looked at these items, his expression was heavy. "I don't have much primeval stones left and it is only enough for one fusion. After this fusion, no matter success or failure, my financial condition will drop. But if I don't fuse it now, my primeval stones will only last for twelve or so days and I will even lose the chance to fuse."

Yami was raising seven Gu worms so he had a large financial burden. And because of his C grade aptitude, he had to repeatedly use the Liquor worm to quickly improve his cultivation. Thus, his primeval stone consumption was more than an ordinary Gu Master's.

Recently, he no longer used primeval stones to recover the primeval essence in his aperture. The red steel sea in his body now was all recovered by its natural self-recovery rate.

Yami was already beginning to cut the primeval stones consumption; he couldn't misuse them after calculating his expenditures.

The current situation was like he was about to fall off a cliff. He could only grab on to the wild grass at the side of the cliff to stabilize his body without falling.

But as time passed, these lifelines would be continuously used up. If he didn't take any risks, it wouldn't take long for him to fall off the cliff.

What he had to do now was to use these lifelines and climb up the cliff with all his strength.

If he succeeded, he could seize the opportunity to obtain the family inheritance and ascend to another level and it would be a whole new scene in front of him.

If he lost, he would drop down and in trying to climb up to this stage again, he would need to spend large amount of time and energy.

"No matter what happens, let's begin." Yami took in a deep breath and focused his gaze.

White Boar Gu, Jade Skin Gu!

The two Gu worms followed his will, drilling out of his aperture and floating in front of Yami.

"Fuse!" Yami shouted inwardly. White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu suddenly emitted dazzling lights and directly bumped into each other.

This was a silent bump, but it created a ball of light.

The white light was more dazzling than before.

This showed that Yami's two consciousness were fusing.

Yami used his consciousness to maintain the white ball of light white taking out primeval stones from the bag and throwing them into the ball of light.

The primeval stones were engulfed by the ball of light and only rock powders remained, scattering on the bed. Each time the ball of light swallowed a primeval stone, its edges would expand a little.

The ball of light absorbed the natural primeval essence and became bigger and bigger.

Gradually, it changed from the size of a washbowl to a grindstone size.

"Almost there." Yami narrowed his eyes; he decisively threw the wild boar king's snow-white tusk into the ball of light.

If anyone were to witness this scene, they would be astonished. The secret recipe of fusing White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu to form White Jade Gu was well known and circulated for over thousand years, but no one had ever heard of adding in a wild boar king's snowy tusk.

However, not being used in the past doesn't mean that it won't be in the future.

One hundred and fifty years from now, a Gu Master would improvise this recipe; he discovered that adding a wild boar's tusk would greatly increase the fusion success rate.

Yami had five hundred years of experience, he naturally knew of this trick.

The snowy tusk was thrown into the ball of light and a fantastic transformation happened immediately.

The previously dazzling light turned softer. The light that was blindly shooting off everywhere now had a movement pattern to it, naturally changing between light and dark.

Under Yami's gaze, the ball of light slowly shrunk and finally dissipated into the air.

Instead of the Jade Skin Gu and White Boar Gu, there was now a completely new Gu worm calmly hovering in front of Yami.

It was like an oval pebble, its whole body was completely white; this white was not pale like Xuan paper and was not milky white like milk, but was a kind of moist white like that of the luster of jade.

This was — Rank two White Jade Gu!

Only now did Yami let out a mouthful of turbid air, his heart relieved.

You might think that this process looks simple. It is not.

First, the consciousness merging needed multitasking.

Drawing a circle with one hand and a square with another is called dual tasking. A lot of people cannot even do this, let alone the highly difficult multi-tasking.

One can only achieve multi-tasking after years of hard cultivation, suffering through countless defeats and setbacks, and even then one would still need some talent.

Yami could do this so proficiently because of his five hundred years of deep experience; not a hint of his experience was fake or forged.

Second, was understanding and knowledge of Gu worms.

The deeper the Gu Master's understanding of Gu worms, the higher the success rate of fusing.

This point, in about three hundred years from now, would be a widely recognized knowledge.

Thus, the longer you use Gu worms, the greater the probability of success in Gu fusion.

Third, was the correct and original recipe.

For example, this time, adding the snowy tusk was like the finishing touch, increasing the success rate by 20%. Its efficiency was extraordinary.

Some recipes were widely spread in this world, but there were many recipes which people would collect and weren't circulated.

Such as in the Konoha Village, the recipe of refining Moonlight Gu was held by a small number of elders and successive generations of clan leaders.

Especially those rank five and above recipes. They would be hidden and treasured like their lives. Many Gu Masters would not spread these recipes until death.

But even with these three points, there was no absolute guarantee of success. Even a person like Yami who had five hundred years of memories, plentiful experiences, deep understanding of Gu worms, could multitask and knew a lot of recipes, had a possibility of failure when fusing Gu worms.

One can only say that his failure rate is lower.

Fusing Gu worms was an evolution of life, a type of creation. It condensed time to the extreme, making the long evolution process bear fruit in an instant.

On earth, only gods could do this.

This was no doubt a miracle of life. Gu Masters making divine intervention with a mortal body, how could it succeed every time?

If it succeeded every time, that would not be human, but god.

In the blink of an eye, ten more days passed.

Deep in the mountain, in the underground rock forest.

Squeakkkkk!

Tens of jade eye stone monkeys jumped in the air with blurred silhouettes.

They continued to leap and attacked Yami aggressively.

If it was like before, Yami would retreat without a doubt. But now, he stood on the spot with a cold expression, still like a rock.

The stone monkeys slammed, scratched, and bit Yami's body, but a crisp 'ding ding' sound could be heard, as if they were not attacking a person, but a sturdy jade pillar.

A bright white jade light covered the area as it attached itself to Yami's body. This light, although it was thinner than the Jade Skin Gu's jade green glow, it had more than twice of the defensive power.

Jade Skin Gu's defense can only handle up to sixteen monkeys' simultaneous attack, but now Yami could face off against more than thirty monkeys alone.

"On the arena, I could break Naruto's Jade Skin Gu's defense with my bare fists, but if Naruto used this White Jade Gu, even if I broke my wrist bone, I would not be able to penetrate his defenses."

Yami pondered while diverting a part of his thoughts towards his aperture sea.

In the red steel primeval sea, the White Jade Gu sank to the bottom of the sea, constantly absorbing primeval essence. Its surface also emitted a faint white jade glow, like a lightbulb.

Every time the stone monkeys attack Yami, the White Jade Gu's surface which resembled an oval pebble would flash faintly.

At the same time, Yami could feel a trace of his primeval essence being expended.

"White Jade Gu's defense is the same type as the Jade Skin Gu, they both require a continuous source of primeval essence. At the same time, the greater the intensity of the attack, the more primeval essence is expended." Yami concluded in his heart.

At the same time, he counterattacked.

Punches and kicks kicked up a sandstorm. His strikes were simple, yet brutal and effective with an imposing aura.

Although the White Boar Gu was gone, the strength it gave to Yami still remained in his body.

Endless monkeys were hit by Yami. Some were kicked away, knocking on the stone pillar; some were killed in midair, turning into stone and breaking into fragments when they landed on the ground.

At the same time, with a flick of his wrist, Yami sent moonblades flying around, like the scythe of the reaper, harvesting the lives of the stone monkeys.

With the supply of red steel primeval essence, the Rank one Moonlight Gu could cause the greatest attack damage to the monkeys with every hit.

Squeak squeak...

The stone monkeys screamed in fright, retreating.

Yami had exterminated the stone monkeys in a short moment of counterattack, with only five or six remaining.

Yami killed another, and the remaining stone monkeys broke down, frantically running around and escaping deep into the stone forest.

Yami did not chase these escapees, but continued forwards deeper into the stone forest.

These days, he had been working hard to find the next clue for the inheritance. With continuous exploring, he had stepped foot on most of the areas around the stone forest, but did not find anything.

He had a hunch, vaguely guessing the Flower Wine Monk's idea. He felt that the next step of the inheritance was likely linked to the most central area of the stone forest.

The deeper he got into the forest, the larger the stone pillars were, and the more stone monkeys lived inside them.

Yami walked as he observed — at the center of the stone forest, there was a large stone pillar. Its circumference was wider than tens of men surrounding it and attempting to hug it.

This stone pillar was his objective.

But, the deeper he got, the larger the monkey gangs, and the higher the difficulty.

Yami took a crucial step out and entered the alert zone of a group of monkeys.

Squeak squeak squeak!

The black caves in the stone pillar had emerging furious jade eye stone monkeys, and up to a hundred jumped in Yami's direction.

Yami ran for his life.

Against so many monkeys, even with the White Jade Gu, he could not massacre them.

The stone monkeys chased Yami for a while, then some started to abandon the chase and turned around, going back to their caves. Eventually, only thirty or so monkeys trailed after Yami.

Yami seeing the time was right, turned around and fought.

After a round of fighting, the last few monkeys ran and escaped, not even daring to return to their original caves.

After a few rounds, Yami killed over a hundred stone monkeys. On the road there were traces of broken stones from the corpses of the stone monkeys.

"Insufficient primeval essence." Yami inspected his primeval sea and sighed, forced to stop in his tracks.

If it was before, he would use his primeval stones to recover swiftly, but now, after fusing the White Jade Gu, he had a severe lack of primeval stones, or rather his entire finance was on the brink of collapsing.

Yami picked up the jade rock eyeballs and stuffed them into his bag.

"It should be at the bottom of the center of that rock pillar. But to reach there, I have to open a path." This feeling was getting more intense, Yami gave it one last look before opening the stone door and returning to the second secret room.

At the corner of the hidden room, there were some items.

A small bag with hundreds of eyeball jades. Yami opened the bag and poured his loot in from today.

The jade pearls collided with one another, emitting a crisp sound.

There was another bag, and wild boar tusks were inside. But now Yami no longer needed to slaughter wild boars.

He used the White Boar Gu and the Jade Skin Gu to refine the White Jade Gu. The White Boar Gu had disappeared, and reduced his necessity for pork to 0.

The new White Jade Gu was more like the Jade Skin Gu, it consumed jade rocks.

Jade Skin Gu needed two pounds of jade rocks every ten days. While the White Jade Gu needed eight pounds of jade rocks every twenty days.

Normally speaking, the higher the rank, the longer interval there is for each meal. Rank two Gu usually feed every half a month, while Rank three Gu feed every month, or longer.

Of course, higher ranking Gu also consume more food. On average, the White Jade Gu consumed more in cost than the Jade Skin Gu and the White Boar Gu combined.

But to Yami, he had this rock forest and did not lack jade rocks. At the same time he did not need pork, so he did not need to kill wild boars, thus this saved him a lot of trouble and a lot of time.

Tying the little bag up, Yami picked up a bullskin water sack.

Inside the water sack, there was golden honey wine inside. A few days ago, Yami had relied on the Jade Skin Gu and endured the bees' attacks, and gathered enough honey wine.

"I only have two and a half primeval stones left, it is time to go to the internal affairs hall and turn in the mission."

Yami kept the water sack well and returned to the tunnel, squeezing out of the rock crack and returning to the outside world.

It was sunset now.

The golden sunset of winter was in fact not cold, the weather bright and fair. The setting sun emerged with comfortable rays of a red-orange colour, the exquisite sunlight passing through the crown of pine trees and shining onto the mountain floor.

Walking alone, he headed towards the village.

Yet Yami did not go directly, but took a few reroutes to prevent the rock crack from being found out.

Winter wind blew on his face, this was the smell of freedom.

Back in the academy, he could only sneak out at night. Now that he was Rank two, he could move about freely in the day without any suspicion.

More importantly, the death of sickly snake and the others allowed Yami to move alone with fewer restraints.

The only thing is, Yami was now alone without any supporting group members. The following clan mission which occurs monthly, he had to complete one at least, and that would be difficult.

Now, after the small beast horde, all the groups had regrouped. Yami had missed the chance.

Because of his reputation, Yami was also ostracized by the Gu Masters. Joining other small groups was not going to be easy.

"So what if I'm left out, the more I float around at the brink, the less attention is on me, and the more advantageous it is for me. As for the clan mission, it is mandatory so I have to take it. But..."

Thinking of this, Yami's eyes shone with cold light, he had plans already.

The clan mandates that every Gu Master had to accept a mission every month, but did not force them to complete it.

Being unable to complete the mission will result in falling evaluation. This was something no Gu Master wanted to see, thus they did their all to complete the missions.

But to Yami, this evaluation was crap!

Walking into the village, there was an endless stream of people walking along the limestone paths of the streets.

At this time, it is normally the peak period.

Many Gu Masters complete their missions with injuries and whatnot, returning to the village. After working for a day, farmers drag their muddy feet and tired bodies, quietly moving along.

In this world, living was not easy, it was full of pain and suffering.

The setting sun slowly dropped below the mountain top, giving out the last ray of warm light. This light would be diminished by the unevenly criss-crossed branches of the withering trees, becoming the fragments of time scattered upon the green jade walls of bamboo houses.

"Oh no, my toy," a girl cried out, chasing her spinning top among the crowd.

The spinning top rolled to Yami's feet, and the girl also hit Yami's leg, falling on the ground.

"Sorry, sorry! For offending lord Gu Master, please pardon us!" The little girl's father hurried over. When he saw Yami's clothing, his expression was white as paper, bringing the little girl and kneeling down, kowtowing to Yami.

The girl cried out of shock, pearls of tears trailing down her white and rosy face.

The walking mortals upon seeing this scene, turned away and avoided them like the plague.

Some Gu Masters stared coldly, before turning away and leaving.

"Stop crying, you troublemaker!" The father was frightened, angry and afraid, moving his hand to give her a slap, but Yami grabbed his hand, not allowing any movement.

"Just a small matter, no worries." Yami laughed lightly, touching the little girl's head, softly consoling, "Don't be afraid, it is okay."

The girl stopped crying, using her teary eyes to look at Yami, thinking this big brother was really gentle.

"Thank you lord, thank you lord for your kindness!" The girl's father was overjoyed, kowtowing to Yami without a break.

Yami continued forward.

His rented house was not far away.

And on the ground floor of that bamboo house, his uncle Mizuki stood, staring at Yami who was still a distance away, evidently waiting for him.

With his abilities, Mizuki could easily find Yami's residence.

He was wearing the Gu Master's uniform which he rarely wore; he had leg wrappings around his legs and was wearing a red belt around his waist. Everything was neat and clean, and gave off a faint feeling of majesty.

He looked at Yami who was slowly coming over and his line of sight fell on the latter's belt; deep emotions emerged in his heart.

"Only C grade aptitude but he has already broken to Rank two at sixteen, it is truly surprising. I really don't know how he succeeded. However...this quick speed should be mostly attributed to the Liquor worm. Pity that Liquor worm has no use at Rank two."

Following that, he saw the faint smile hanging on Yami's mouth.

This smile made Mizuki's heart chill.

Anger rushed through his mind, "This kid acts so calm, does he think he has me trapped within his palm?!"

Yami slowly walked over and stopped in front of Mizuki, he knew the latter was definitely here for him.

Sure enough, Mizuki opened his mouth, "Yami, I think we can have a talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" Yami slightly frowned.

Mizuki laughed but then talked of another thing, "Do you know, I was the same as you, I became a Gu Master when I was fifteen."

"It was right at the time of wolf tide, there was a large number of casualties and we - students - also had no choice but to fight. I had B grade aptitude; I reached Rank two initial stage at sixteen, upper stage at seventeen and peak stage at eighteen. When I was nineteen, I was already beginning my charge to Rank three. At that time, I believed I could be a Rank three Gu Master at twenty."

"Hahaha, I was too frivolous, I thought I was above everyone else and thought I could accomplish anything. I even thought I was omnipotent, I simply didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. It was when I was twenty. I went out to do a mission and was beaten by a Xiong village's Gu Master. I was on the brink of death but fortunately, medicine hall's elder personally moved and saved me. But after that event, my aptitude dropped down to C grade, I couldn't recover from this shock for a whole of eight years."

"At my twenty-ninth birthday, I started to have another look at myself and this world. I discovered that a single person's strength was limited. So what if I had broken through to Rank three? Living in this society, the most important thing is not individual strength, but the connections with others."

"I began my life anew when I was thirty. I stepped down from the frontlines when I was forty-five. A hundred Gu Masters jointly petitioned to elect me as an elder dozens of times. Even though I only had the cultivation of Rank two peak stage, I couldn't take that final step but there was also no need. I had already achieved success. Clan members call me as the 'hidden elder'. Most of my peers have already passed away but my life sailed smoothly. I still have influence on many Gu Masters."

After giving a lengthy report, Mizuki returned to the main topic. He looked at Yami, his mouth curved up, "Yami, you are too young and inexperienced, just like I was back then. Believing you can accomplish anything and finish everything by yourself. Hehe."

Mizuki shook his head and continued, "But when you gain more experience, you will understand that human is a social animal and not a lone beast. Sometimes we need to lower our heads and take a step back. Being an extremist and arrogant person will only bring isolation and destruction. I believe you have already felt it; no group will take you and everyone is leaving you out. Even if you receive the family inheritance mission, what would that do? As a person who has been left out by everyone, you definitely won't have the chance to finish the task. Give up."

Yami indifferently looked at the middle-aged man; his expression, calm.

"I wonder what expression he will show if he knew I have five hundred years of experience?"

Yami's eyes couldn't help but reveal a trace a of smile when he thought this.

Actually, his uncle's way of thoughts had been his life's concept for a long period of time in his previous life.

Thus, he had created the Bloodwing Demon Sect, relying on the system and human emotions to create an enormous influence. Ten thousands would come forth with his one call, seizing resources and fighting enemies.

However, when he broke through to Rank six, he saw a completely new scene.

Gu Masters up to Rank five were mortals but Rank six were immortals. When he stood at that height and looked at the world, he suddenly comprehended — an enormous influence was indeed a powerful help but at the same time was an enormous burden.

No matter which world, there was only one thing which one could truly rely on; that was oneself.

Only that such people were usually weak. People couldn't endure loneliness and liked chasing after family love, friendship and romance to fill in their spirit. They indulged in being in a group and were afraid of being alone.

When they received setbacks, they would hide in the group, complain to relatives and share with friends. They didn't dare to confront their fears and defeats by themselves. When there was pain, they would be busy sharing it; when there was something good, they would be anxious to boast of it.

Mizuki succeeded? No doubt he succeeded.

He couldn't walk his original path, so he went in another path and left for a new scene.

But at the same time, he was also a failure.

He had lowered his head because of one setback; he was no more than a coward, but he was content with his running away.

Mizuki didn't know Yami had already labelled him as a coward. He saw Yami made no reply, so he thought the latter was absorbed in his speech.

He continued, "Yami, I won't beat around the bush, you are not Naruto. If you give up your idea of inheriting the family assets, you will receive my friendship and you can use all my connections. I will also give you a thousand primeval stones. I know you are hard pressed for money these days and you are even late in paying the rent by two days, right?"

Yami indifferently smiled and spoke, "Uncle, you don't wear these clothes often, right?"

Mizuki was taken aback, he hadn't expected Yami would suddenly talk about this.

Yami was indeed correct, he had already been retired for a long time now, this uniform was usually stored deep in a box. He had worn this uniform especially to meet Yami today; it was to increase his persuasion and deterrence power.

Yami sighed, he sized up Mizuki's clothes and continued, " A Gu Master's uniform isn't so clean and neat. It would be covered with sweat, mud and blood; it would be in shreds and patches; that is the smell of a Gu Master."

"You are old. Uncle. Your great ambitions and aspirations have already disappeared from your youth. These years, you have lived an easy life and it has corrupted your heart. You are vying for the family assets, not for cultivation but to maintain your rich life. With such a mentality, how could you obstruct me?"

Mizuki's face instantly turned ashen, anger surging through his mind.

There was always a group of 'old' people in this world. They touted their social experience everywhere. They considered others' dreams as illusions; considered others' passions as frivolous; considered others' persistence as arrogance. They would seek their own existence and superiority by lecturing the later generations.

No doubt, Mizuki was such a person.

He wanted to educate Yami but he had never thought that Yami not only didn't listen to him or yield to him, but would instead lecture him!

"Fang Yuan!" Mizuki shouted, "I wanted to guide and persuade you with good intentions as your elder but you don't know what's good from bad. Hmph, since you want to go against me, then so be it. I am not afraid to tell you that I already know the contents of your family inheritance mission. Young people don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Haha, I really want to see how you will complete this mission!"

Yami had a ridiculing smile on his face, there was no need to conceal now. Anyway, they could no longer reconcile, so there was no harm in enjoying Mizuki's upcoming wonderful expression.

Thereupon, he took out the bullskin water bag and opened it; a fragrance that was specific to honey wine floated out.

"What do you think is in here?" He asked.

Mizuki turned pale with fright, his mood immediately sank to an all-time low.

"How can this be? Where did you get this honey wine?!" He roared, a stunned expression appeared on his face.

Yami ignored him, closed the cap, put the water bag back and walked towards the internal affairs hall.

Mizuki's forehead was covered with cold sweat, many thoughts surging in his mind.

"Where did he get the honey wine? I already made sure that as long as he looks for other groups, I would get the news the very first moment. Could he have done this alone? No, that's not possible, he doesn't have a defense Gu worm. Someone definitely helped him. No! The point now is not finding the reason. This kid already has the honey wine, he is going to hand over the mission!"

Mizuki was already panicking as he thought this and no longer had the calm appearance from moments ago.

He quickly chased after Yami, "Yami, wait, everything can be discussed."

Yami didn't speak and continued to walk, Mizuki could only follow beside him.

"If one thousand primeval stones won't do, then how about two thousand, no, two thousand five hundred." Mizuki kept on increasing the offer.

Yami turned a deaf ear to Mizuki, instead increasingly having some expectations towards the family assets. On seeing how Mizuki was so anxious and was continuously raising the offer, the real family assets should definitely be very good.

Mizuki was perspiring, he saw Yami was not moved, his face revealed a fierce look and he threatened, "Yami, think this through clearly! What end will you have if you offend me, hmph, don't blame uncle for being cold-hearted if you miss an arm or leg in the future."

Yami laughed.

This Mizuki was really a lamentable person. He was bound by rules and regulations; the water bag was clearly within his reach, but he didn't dare to snatch it. If he didn't even have this much guts, how could he succeed in fighting for the benefits?

Riches and danger went together. No matter which world, if you want to obtain something, you need to pay its price.

"Yami, you think everything will be well after you get the family assets! You are too young, you don't have a clue about society and its dangers!" Mizuki snarled by Yami's ear.

Yami shook his head and ignored him, walking into the internal affairs hall in front of his glaring eyes.

Actually, he didn't hate or even loathe this uncle of his.

He had seen a lot of such people and understood this type of people.

If Yami had enough primeval stones to support his cultivation, he wouldn't even fight for the family assets. But what good will giving such insignificant benefits to uncle do?

For what reason was he reborn?

It was not for this momentary period, but to step to the highest peak. This type of passerby, as long as they didn't interfere with this and only raged from the side, Yami would disdain to even step on them.

But unfortunately, this Mizuki obstructed Yami's path.

Since it was so, then he will stamp on this obstacle and move forward.

"Yami! Fang Yuan…" Uncle Mizuki watched on as Yami stepped into the internal affairs hall; his whole body shook and veins bulged up on his forehead.

The light of the setting sun shone on his hair which was already turning white.

He was indeed old.

When he sustained that injury at the age of twenty, he had already aged.


	18. A Grade Aptitude, Still Insignificant

**A Grade Aptitude, But Nothing More Than A Pawn**

Yami arrived at the internal affairs hall and turned in the golden honey wine.

The middle-aged male Gu Master in charge was very surprised. While holding his pen, he asked, "You completed the asset mission already?"

"What do you think?" Yami retorted.

The middle-aged male Gu Master frowned, this was the mission he chose specifically to make life difficult for Yami. To think he completed it so quickly!

He looked at Yami, his eyes threatening, saying solemnly, "Young man, answer whatever I ask you. If you do not reply honestly, it will affect your evaluation. Let me ask you, did you complete this mission alone? Say the truth, we will investigate thoroughly."

"Of course I finished it myself." Yami replied.

"Good, I will note that down." The middle-aged Gu Master recorded while laughing internally, you're just a newbie, how could you complete it alone? Such a falseful report, the clan would definitely investigate. You will have trouble then.

But unexpectedly Yami continued, "But this situation is slightly peculiar. That day I only went to scout out the area, but to think the bear was digging the beehive. Using that chance, I retrieved this honey wine."

"What?" The middle-aged man's pen stopped, raising his head to look at Yami.

Yami shrugged, smiling, "What, did you think I could accomplish this mission alone? To say the truth, this is all thanks to you, finding this mission for me."

The middle-aged Gu Master was stunned on the spot, a complex and unexplainable feeling in his heart as he laughed dryly and continued to record in the book.

Yami stared at this man calmly, knowing full well that his extremely difficult asset mission was all 'thanks' to this man. Unfortunately, he had already completed the mission; even if the clan investigates, Yami had the appropriate set up already. He could stall Yami no longer.

Even if this matter was handled by him.

This is the grief of being in the system. Your status is the chain that restricts your actions.

"Alright, your mission is complete, you can inherit the family asset already. Except, your asset is all controlled by your uncle and aunt. The internal affairs hall will retrieve it for you, come back in three days." After recording, the middle-aged man said.

Yami nodded, he knew this rule, but he stared at the middle-aged man's record paper, saying, "According to the clan rules, the internal affairs mission record needs to be confirmed by the accomplisher on the spot. Please let me see this record."

The middle-aged man's expression changed, he did not expect Yami to be so familiar with the process. He snorted lightly while handling the report to Yami.

Yami looked at the record without any problems. A few hundred words with the final evaluation — Good.

He could immediately see the relationship between Mizuki and this Gu Master.

This evaluation was definitely fair, showing that the middle-aged Gu Master did not give up on his work ethics just because of Konoha Mizuki; the reason he helped Mizuki was only because of their friendship and the transaction between them.

It was the 'taking money to settle problems for others' type of transaction.

Giving the report back to the middle-aged Gu Master, Yami left the internal affairs hall.

Outside, Mizuki was already gone.

Yami could not help but laugh coldly. Mizuki's influence was not big enough to affect the internal affairs hall. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi the clan leader wanted to do this, he would have to go against the immense pressure from the clan elder circle and pay a huge price in his political career.

There was a phrase on earth, called 'those who live in the society has to follow its rules.'

There were rules in the society, and that is a form of system. Those who follow the rules, being anyone's pawn piece, restrict each other, and it is not up to them to control.

Unless an individual's strength has reached the point where it can oppose the entire organisation, otherwise, joining an organisation and wanting to retain freedom was a pointless dream!

Borrowing the power of the clan system, Yami had already affirmed the truth of getting back his assets.

Regardless of Mizuki or the clan leader, they will not pay the political price for interfering with such a small matter.

In the guest hall.

"Brother Mizuki, there is nothing I can do anymore." The middle-aged Gu Master sighed, standing in front of Mizuki.

Mizuki's face was grim as he remained silent on his seat.

"Are there really no more methods?" Beside him, Aunt fearfully asked in an anxious and indignant tone.

The middle-aged man shook his head, "The results are set in stone and have entered the internal affairs hall's procedure. Unless the two clan elders in power or the clan leader interferes. Brother Mizuki, this internal affairs hall's inventory list states clearly the inheritance items and amount, please return them all and don't make my life difficult." Saying so, he took out the inventory list.

The inventory had a ton of records, from expensive items like estates to cheap tables or chairs, other than that there were also the Gu worms that Yami's parents had left behind.

After a Gu Master dies of battle, their Gu worms would be retrieved as an inheritance for their successor. This was a political move by the clan.

Aunt took a look at the list, before losing her composure, "Damn it, you cannot do this! This is all ours, OURS! Hubby, say something, think of something. Without these assets, what do we have left? Even our servants will be gone by half, we cannot afford it! "

Slap!

Mizuki stood up and sent his palm flying towards Aunt, sending her to the ground from her seat.

"Noisy bitch!" Uncle flew into a rage, scolding in an agitated tone, "Frog in the well, the clan rules are there, you think you can choose not to return them? Dumb, ignorant!" Aunt used her hand to cover her cheeks, beaten into stupidity, lying on the ground in shock, staring at her husband blankly.

"Hmph!" Mizuki grabbed the inventory list, gritting his teeth, scanning through.

His eyes were filled with blood traces as he breathed heavily, saying with hatred, "Return! All these things… I will return… NOT A THING LESS! But..."

His veins popped from his forehead, the muscles on his face twitching, his expression full of ruthlessness, "But Yami, I cannot stop the internal affairs hall, yet I can deal with you. Don't think everything is well and alive now that you have these assets, hmph!"

Three days later, Yami walked out from the internal affairs hall with a stack of house and land deeds and sold human contracts in his hands.

"To think this inheritance is so abundant." He was slightly stunned.

Even though Yami had some estimations, after receiving this asset list, it was way out of his expectations.

Over ten mu of farmland, eight family servants and three bamboo buildings, and a wine tavern!

"No wonder uncle was so insistent, thinking of all ways to stop me." Yami could understand Mizuki's actions.

With such a large family asset, even in this world, one could live like a king.

Ten mu of farmland, eight family servants, put this aside first. Those three bamboo buildings were property assets — even if they were only rented out, every month, the rental amount was enough to support Yami's current cultivation.

Other than that there is also a wine tavern. Note that there is only four wine-selling areas in the entire village.

Such an asset, if on earth, would be equivalent to having several mansions and a hotel, it is an aristocrat life with multiple servants.

What's worth mentioning is, this world's living conditions was way more ruthless and difficult, thus the village being the safest location, priced the property assets even more expensively than on earth.

"It is said that my Uzumaki family, three generations ago, had a clan elder who held power and left much inheritance for his future generations. With these family assets, the seven Gu worms aside, even if that number doubled I can still afford them! But the crucial point isn't this. It is this grass Gu!"

At this point, there was a grass Gu lying quietly in Yami's palm.

It was dainty and delicate, the emerald green roots resembling a ginseng's beard. There were some semi-transparent stolon that was like jadeite. Nine pieces of round-shaped leaves that were jade green covered and reflected each other, forming the shape of a round plate.

This was the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, the healing-type Rank two Gu worm.

If it came to normal healing, it had no difference from the Life breath grass.

The true value of the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass lay in its leaves - Every one of the leaves torn from it was a vitality leaf.

Vitality leaf is also a type of grass Gu. At rank one, it is an expendable type, disappearing after one use.

It had another flaw, and that was when a piece of vitality leaf is used to heal injuries, within the next hour, other vitality leaves had no more healing effect on the person.

But, all in all, it was easy to refine, and instantaneous healing together with the easy feeding of it made it the most popular healing technique among Rank two Gu Masters.

Healing Gu Master, every group needed one. But in times where multiple Gu Masters were injured, what can a single Gu Master do? If the healing Gu Master was the one who died, or got lost, what happens to the rest?

Thus, Gu Masters always prepared some healing methods for themselves, and the vitality leaf was the best method. Every Gu Master that roamed outside needed to prepare at least one or two.

"After I refine the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, every piece of leaf torn out would be a vitality leaf. Using the primeval essence to inject into the grass, I can make it grow new leaves. Thus, this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass can be said to be a moving goldmine. The most important asset of all… without exception. Having this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass is an avenue of business. In this dangerous world, which Gu Master does not get injured on their missions? They have a perpetual need for the vitality leaf."

"No wonder Mizuki was known as the 'hidden elder' even after he retired many years ago; he still held great influence outside. So the reason was this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass."

Gu Masters needed the vitality leaf, and Mizuki sold the leaf. With such a relationship, it is no question that his influence remained.

Yami was enlightened.

"Only in this world are clan relationships raised to such a level, restraining Uncle and Aunt. If this was earth, with such a conflict of interest, Naruto and I would already have had been killed by them. This is not good, it seems I have some trouble ahead, Uncle and Aunt will not let go so easily."

"But I have already grown up with Rank two cultivation. If they want to deal with me and also consider the clan regulations, they would be highly restricted. Hmph, regardless of what they do, just show me what you've got. Dealing with it as it comes, I will handle them all."

Yami walked on the street, his eyes glimmering in brilliance.

A gust of winter wind blew on his face.

It was still far from spring, but Yami knew that 'spring' (start of his new life) had already come.

The wine tavern wasn't big, but it was in a good location; it was at the eastern side of the village near the eastern gate.

The flow of people was the largest at the eastern and northern gates. Thus, the wine tavern's business was pretty good whether it was day or night.

"Young lord, please take a seat." An old man lowered his head to Yami.

Few waiters wiped the benches and tables with a fawning and flattering smile towards Yami.

Yami shook his head. He didn't sit, but walked around the tavern, sizing everything. He thought inwardly, "This is my wine tavern."

This wine tavern only had one floor, but it had an underground wine cellar.

Huge and square black tiles covered the floor. There were eight square tables; two tables were set against the wall and other six tables were surrounded by four benches.

A dark brown, long sales counter could be seen immediately upon entering the wine tavern. There were papers, brush, ink stones and also an abacus on the counter. Behind the counter was the liquor cabinet where all sizes of wine jars were displayed. Some of these were large wine jars of black pottery, and some were small and bright porcelain wine bottles.

Yami was walking around as he wished; the old man and waiters didn't dare to sit, they could only follow close behind.

They were restless, the news of the landlord changing was too abrupt. The previous landlord Mizuki was cunning as a ghost, he was strict and acrimonious; they were under a lot of pressure. This boy in front of them was actually able to take the wine tavern from Mizuki's hands. Such a method of snatching was shocking. So these people's gazes towards Yami carried unease and fear.

Yami suddenly stopped, "It is good. But this store is a bit small."

The old man immediately walked forward and bowed to answer, "Young lord, we put sheds outside every summer and lay tables and benches. But it is winter now and the wind is biting cold, no one would sit outside even if we put up sheds. So we took them down."

Yami slightly turned. He glanced at this old man, "You are the shopkeeper?"

The old bent his waist even lower and said even more respectfully, "I dare not, I dare not. Young lord, this wine tavern is yours, whoever you choose as a shopkeeper is the shopkeeper."

Yami nodded then glanced at the waiters; they all seemed to be competent.

If it was on earth, he would be anxious that this shopkeeper and the waiters would team up and scheme against him, the owner. But in this world, Gu Masters were high and mighty, killing mortals would only require a thought. Even if Uncle and Aunt egged them, these mortals wouldn't dare to go against Yami.

"Alright, bring the accounting books and bring me a pot of tea." Yami sat down.

"Yes, young lord." The shopkeeper and waiters moved hurriedly.

There were as much as sixteen account books, and every book used bamboo papers which had a light green hue. The bamboo papers were more brittle than Xuan paper and were suitable for the damp atmosphere of the Southern Border.

Yami casually picked up a few books and skimmed over them, asking some questions occasionally.

The shopkeeper gave prompt replies; soon, his forehead was covered with sweat.

Yami had created the Bloodwing Demon Sect and taught countless people in his previous life. He was rich in experience and his eyes were shrewd. Others might be confused and dazzled when they see the account books; but in his eyes, all the doubtful points were as clear as crystal.

This wine tavern was the second biggest asset after the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass; Yami naturally wanted to firmly grasp it.

There were only some small problems in the account books which could be attributed to mistakes and negligence. These mortals didn't dare to be presumptuous.

However, when Yami turned to the last page, he saw that this month's income had already been taken by Mizuki.

"Young lord, the previous landlord personally took it. We didn't dare to resist." The shopkeeper replied while wiping his sweat. His aged body was already trembling and his face had become very pale.

Yami was silent, he put down the account books on the table and glanced at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper immediately felt a huge pressure as if a mountain was pressing down on him. He was scared witless, kneeling on the ground.

Seeing the shopkeeper kneeling down, the waiters also astutely knelt down one by one.

Yami calmly sat and turned his gaze towards them.

The waiters immediately felt like they were in a world of ice, they couldn't resist Yami's aura. They were all silent.

To these mortals, the wine tavern's work was both stable and safe, the ideal job. They didn't want to lose this job.

Yami stopped upon seeing that his authority had been established, going too far could end up being detrimental. He slowly spoke, "I won't bother about the past matters. I saw that your wages are somewhat low; waiter's wages will be raised by twenty percent and the shopkeeper's by forty percent from now on. Work properly and you will get more benefits."

Yami stood up and walked to the entrance.

The group of people kneeling on the ground were stunned for a good while before coming back to their senses. All of their eyes brimmed with tears that flowed down their faces.

"Thank you young lord for your great kindness!"

"Young lord is compassionate, we will definitely work with all our strength!"

"Young lord, you are our benefactor, please take care."

Tearful sounds came from behind, there were also crisp sounds of forehead smashing on the black tiles from continuous kowtowing.

Use might alongside mercy, this was the only way the top controlled its subordinates no matter in which world. Might was the foundation and under this might, any small kindness would be magnified by countless times.

A benefit without might would only give a title of a good samaritan. But as time passed, people would no longer feel grateful for such kindness and it would instead result in greed and disaster.

"But these ways to control people are all unorthodox methods. It would be highly esteemed on Earth, but in this world, raising one's own strength is the one true way. No, even on Earth, strength is first."

Yami thought of the Scarlet Red Imperial Ancestor.

In those days, the Scarlet Red Imperial Ancestor had gone through and experienced a trial and he had come to a conclusion: Political power comes from guns!

This was the naked truth — strength was the foundation of any political power. So-called authority is only an accessory to strength.

Actually, not only authority, wealth and beauties were also derivatives of strength.

Yami headed towards the three bamboo houses after leaving the wine tavern.

These three bamboo houses were rented out by uncle and aunt; they were practically full.

This world paid attention to more birth. To the ever-growing huge population, the space in the village seemed narrow.

The clan had the system of the eldest son inheriting the property. Other sons and daughters would have to rely on their effort. Even if a lot of people relied on clan politics to get a meager split of the family assets and work hard outside, they might not even be able to save enough to buy a bamboo house in their whole life.

On one hand, raising Gu consumed a lot and on the other, the village had limited space, so the house prices were very expensive.

They could naturally build house outsides the village but that was not safe. Wild beasts and snakes would always roam around and could intrude into the houses. Above all, every time a beast tide occurred, all the houses outside the village would be destroyed.

Extending the village was the only way to solve this.

But extending meant the area to defend would increase and the village wouldn't be able to defend against beast tide's attacks. Moreover, if the area was big then it would be difficult to guard against and search for infiltrating Gu Masters of other villages.

Konoha Village had extended several times in history but had been devastated by beast tides. After learning from this lesson, the current village size was already the largest.

Yami skimmed through it and after understanding some situations, he already got the picture.

These three bamboo houses were operated very well by Uncle and Aunt. The rent was also customized to get more profits, so he might as well just let it run like that. He calculated that the earnings from these three bamboo houses were not as much as the wine tavern but the difference was not much.

The overall situation was much better than Yami's original expectations.

Just the day before yesterday, he was left with nothing and had become so poor that his primeval stones count didn't even reach five. But now, all of a sudden, he rose to the list of richest people in the clan.

The female tenants in these rented houses were all Rank two female Gu Masters in difficulty. After knowing Yami's identity, their gaze towards him turned amorous.

If they could be near to Yami and get married to him, then they would no longer have to rush about facing danger; their lives would be smooth and steady.

Such a life was what they were pursuing and using all their strength to fight for.

That is to say that if Yami wanted, he could retire and live a rich life now like his uncle used to.

With a tap of a finger, many female Gu Masters would flock to him.

"But that is not what I want." Yami stood at the second floor of the bamboo house, letting female Gu Masters' provocative gazes fall upon his body. He frowned as he held the railings and gazed afar.

Far away, stretched of green mountains went on continuously, looking like a sleeping giant with the gray-blue sky as its quilt.

The endless rivers and boundless earth, when can I move unhindered on them?

Amidst the winds of change, dragons and snakes rise from the lands, when can I look down upon all living things?

"Since rebirth, I have been drifting with the waves like a rootless duckweed. I spared no effort to get the family assets; with this base, I can be said to have become independent and gained my footing. Next would be to unearth the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance and put all my effort in cultivating to Rank three, then I can leave this village and go out to the wide world!" Fire burned in Yami's deep black eyes.

Elemental Mountain was one of the countless mountains in the Southern Border. And the Southern Border was only a corner of this world.

Too small, too small! How could such a place sustain his lofty ambitions?

Compared to his ambitions, these family assets - which others were cracking their brains to obtain, which was a thing of yearning - was as tiny as dust.

"Big brother, come down, I need to talk to you." At some point in time, Naruto Uzumaki had reached the bamboo house. He looked up at Yami and yelled.

"Hmm?" Yami's train of thoughts were broken, he looked down at Naruto with an indifferent look.

The brothers' eyes met; it was silent...

Younger brother Naruto was downstairs and was shrouded by the shadow of another house. He was facing up; his eyebrows were raised and his two eyes were flickering with light.

Big brother Yami was upstairs; sunlight shone on him, his slightly drooping eyes had pupils as dark as night.

Similar faces reflected in each other's eyes.

As to his little brother's appearance, Yami wasn't surprised. Naruto was a weapon of Uncle and Aunt to fight for family assets.

And yet, so what?

Yami looked down at Naruto, sighing inwardly, "A grade aptitude, but is nothing more than a pawn...truly insignificant."

Eventually, Yami did not go downstairs, and his brother did not go up.

The two persisted, and the distance between the floors indicated that the distance between the brothers were enlarging.

The talk was not smooth.

"Brother, you are just too much! To think that you are such a person!" Downstairs, Naruto stood, his brows creasing tightly as he screamed.

Yami was not angry, but laughed lightly, "Oh, what kind of person am I?"

"Brother!" Naruto sighed deeply, "After our parents died, Uncle and Aunt adopted us. They have the gratitude of raising us. To think that you are so heartless, returning favor with revenge. Big brother, is your heart made of stone?"

Saying so, Naruto's tone was slightly trembling.

"So strange, this inheritance is rightfully mine, what is there to be said about revenge and favour." Yami retorted unenthusiastically.

Naruto gritted his teeth, acknowledging, "Yes! I know, this inheritance is from our parents. But you cannot take them all, you have to at least leave some for Aunt and Uncle to let them enjoy their life in retirement, right? Doing so, you really are making our hearts bitterly disappointed, you let me look down on you!"

Pausing, he continued, "Did you ever return home to see the living conditions that they are in now? Half the servants at home were already retrenched, they cannot afford it. Brother, how can you be so cruel!"

Naruto's eyes were red, clutching his fist, he screamed at Yami.

Yami laughed coldly, he knew that Uncle and Aunt had controlled the assets all these years and must have amassed a huge fortune. Even if this was not so, just with the profits at the end of the month from the wine tavern, they would be able to afford all those servants. They are only pretending to be poor so Naruto would come and find trouble.

Yami used his gaze to size up Naruto and said directly, "My adorable little brother, if I insist on not returning the assets, what can you do? Although you are sixteen, you have already acknowledged them as parents, don't forget that. You have lost the rights to the inheritance."

"I know!" Naruto's gaze had a divine light, "That's why I am here to challenge you to a written war challenge . On the arena, let's have a match to decide victory, if I win, return a portion of the family asset to mother and father."

Between clansmen, if they had unresolvable conflict, they could use this method to settle the problem. There were many types of Gu battles — 1 versus 1, 2 versus 2, battle of arts, battle of strength, and life and death battle.

Of course, Yami and Naruto would not be so serious as to fight to the death if they had a Gu battle.

Seeing the brother's determined expression, Yami suddenly laughed, "It seems that before this, Uncle and Aunt specifically told you huh. But, as someone who lost to me before, you have such confidence of winning me?"

Naruto squinted, unwillingly thinking of what happened not long ago — the humiliation on the arena.

Ever since, every time he thought about it, rage would rise from his heart. This rage was directed towards Yami as well as himself.

He hated himself for being useless, being frantic at the critical moment. As a matter of fact, he had underperformed in that battle. His tempo was taken away by Yami, and he only thought of using the Jade Skin Gu at the last moment. In the end, he lost abruptly and very indignantly.

Naruto's anger towards himself fuelled even more intense indignance.

Thus, unavoidably, he had such a thought —"If I could redo it, I can definitely perform better and defeat my older brother!"

Thus, when Uncle and Aunt complained to him, Naruto not only wanted to take back the inheritance for the two of them, but also wanted to fight Yami again to prove himself.

"Things are different now, brother." Naruto looked at Yami, his eyes burning with determination, fires blazing around him, "Last time, I performed badly and lost to you. This time, I have successfully refined the Rank two Gu worm Moon Raiment. You cannot break my defense anymore!"

Saying so, he emitted a vague light blue fog around his body.

The fog enveloped him, and in the mist, it eventually formed into a long floating ribbon.

The ribbon looped around his waist and coiled around his two limbs. The middle section of the ribbon drifted above his head, causing Naruto to give out a sort of graceful and mysterious magical breath.

"Indeed, it is the Moon Raiment, how foolish, revealing your trump card like that." Yami stood on the stairs, seeing this scene, his gaze twinkled.

Moon Raiment was a Rank two Gu worm with defensive properties. Although the defense was slightly lower than the White Jade Gu, it could assist others in defending and had greater contribution towards small group fights.

With this Gu in his hands, Yami really could not break Naruto's defense with his bare fists. Sending the fist over was like hitting cotton, absolutely losing its kinetic force.

Even if he used the Moonlight Gu, he could not breakthrough unless it was the Moonglow Gu. Thus if Naruto wanted to fight and invited Yami to a Gu battle, according to the clan rules he has to accept. Without revealing the White Jade Gu, Yami might really lose.

A grade is A grade, and with the clan leader's nurture, Naruto is growing rapidly. It could be said that, during the academy phase, Yami suppressed Naruto. But now he had to admit, Naruto was starting to show the brilliance of a genius and was showing imposing threat to Yami.

"But, you think I did not expect this?" Yami stared down at his brother, his lips curling.

He said to Naruto, "My persistent little brother, of course you can challenge me. But have you gotten the approval of your teammates? If during the battle, your group has to go on a mission, how would you choose?"

Naruto paused; indeed, he did not think of this.

He had to admit, his brother was right. The group had to work together, and if teammates wanted to go on individual operations, they would need to report first.

"Thus, you might as well go back, find that leader Hashirama of yours, and explain the situation. I'll wait for you guys at the northern gate's wine tavern," Yami said.

Naruto hesitated slightly, then gritted his teeth, "I'll go now, brother! But let me tell you, delay tactics don't work."

He came to Hashirama's residence, and the family servant led him in.

Hashirama was practising using his Gu.

His body was moving around in the garden's arena stage, extremely agile and fit.

"Green vine Gu," he lightly said, and from his right palm, a green vine shot out. It was around fifteen meters. Hashirama grabbed the vine and used it as a whip, splitting, coiling and sweeping around.

Pow pow pow!

The shadow of the whip swept across the floor, sending the concrete on the broken ground flying.

"Pine needle Gu." He suddenly kept the vine whip, and flipped his long green hair.

Immediately, from among the hair pine needles shot out like rain.

The pine needles hit the wooden puppet not far away, piercing its entire body and creating close and numerous pinholes.

"Moonwhirl Gu." Next, he placed out his left palm, and a green-coloured crescent insignia glowed in a bright green light.

With a flick of his wrist, the green moonblade was sent flying.

Different from the trajectory of a normal moonblade, this green moonblade was more curved. While flying in the air, it travelled in an arc, making it harder for enemies to predict.

"As expected of the number one Gu Master among the Rank two, Senior Hashirama! With such an attack, I can't even last for ten breaths. He's really too strong." Naruto stared with his mouth wide open, forgetting his original intention in the first place.

"Oh? Naruto, why are you here. The previous mission just ended, you have to rest more, got to keep that balance between work and rest!" Hashirama upon noticing Naruto, kept away his fighting aura and smiled gently.

"Senior Hashirama." Naruto bowed to him respectfully.

This respect was sincerely from his heart. Ever since he joined the group, Naruto had been attentively taken care of by Hashirama, and in Naruto's eyes, Hashirama was like an elder brother.

"Oh Naruto, it seems you have business with me?" Hashirama wiped the sweat off his forehead while going towards Naruto with a smile.

"It's like this..." Naruto said his intentions, as well as the entire story.

Hearing so, Hashirama's eyebrows slightly rose. The truth is that he had heard a lot about Yami, and when compared to Naruto, he was more interested in Yami.

"Might as well meet him for once."

Thinking so, Hashirama nodded, "I have something to discuss with your brother as well. In that case, let's go together."

Naruto was overjoyed, "Thank you senior!"

"Hehehe, no need to thank me, we're in the same group." Hashirama patted Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto could feel warmth in his heart, his eyes unwillingly turning red.

The two got to the tavern. A shop assistant had been expecting them all along, and brought them inside.

On a square table by the window, there were several side dishes and two wine cups, and a pot of wine.

Yami sat on one side, and when he saw Hashirama, he smiled and extended his hand, "Please sit."

Hashirama nodded to Yami. He took his seat, then said to Naruto, "Naruto, go take a stroll around, I'll talk with your brother."

He was a smart person. Upon seeing only two wine cups, he knew that Yami wanted to have a chat alone.

The truth is, he had such intentions as well.

Naruto acknowledged and left the shop indignantly.

"I know you, Yami." Hashirama smiled, opening the wine pot skillfully, pouring a cup for Yami and one for himself.

"You are a very interesting, smart person." Saying so, he raised his cup towards Yami.

Yami laughed and raised his cup as well to return the toast.

The two drank it in one shot together.

Hashirama poured another for Yami again, as well as for himself.

As he poured, he said, "There's no point beating about the bush when talking to a smart person. I'll be open, I want to buy your Liquor worm, how much would you sell it?"

He did not ask Yami if he was selling it, but asked directly — How much, showing his immense confidence.

He was the number one Rank two Gu Master. At a young age, he reached Rank two peak stage, overpowering the Rank two upper stage Torune and Hana.

Once he appeared, he took the initiative and poured the wine and toasted Yami.

His confidence together with his gentle smile formed a unique aura. It was not overbearing and forceful which could make people disgusted, but it made others feel his persistence.

His long green hair, and the winter sunlight shining through the window and unto his fair, gently streaked face. This let Yami subconsciously think of the bright and beautiful radiance of spring.

"A truly talented person. What a shame," Yami thought.

He was not bothered by Hashirama's act of taking over the initiative. In fact Yami was slightly appreciative of him, and he sighed lightly.

Hashirama was also an orphan like Yami and Naruto.

His parents had died in a wolf tide when he was young.

He was personally raised by clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After he was tested to have B grade aptitude, he received Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal guidance. His aptitude was outstanding and could be said to be at the top among the B grades, it could even be called 'false A grade'. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been raising him as a clan leader candidate.

Hashirama had a warm temperament and was amicable. He was highly praised and received well by the clan members. He was also very loyal to the clan; Naruto's arrival cut off his hopes of inheriting the clan leader position, but he was instead happy and wholeheartedly took care of Naruto.

In the Shinobi World, Hashirama's counterpart and Yahiko were people with such character.

Unfortunately, in the wolf tide a year later, the Northern gate would fall; to block this gap and protect the clan members, he stepped forward. In the end, he forcefully used a Rank three Gu with his Rank two cultivation, becoming an impenetrable fortress and successfully defending the village.

However, his aperture was destroyed because of this and he finally turned into a treeman and died.

Thus, Hashirama had left a profound impression on Yami.

When he saw Yami sighing, Hashirama naturally didn't think that Yami was looking back on his death and thought Yami was vexed due to the Liquor worm.

He smiled, "Yami, you should already be clear on the limits of Liquor worm. The Liquor worm is only a Rank one Gu worm and can only refine Rank one green copper essence. But you are already a Rank two Gu Master; the Liquor worm has no use towards red steel primeval essence. Although you have a wine tavern now and can easily raise the Liquor worm, why would you vainly raise something that has no use to you?"

He switched the thread of discussion, "The Liquor worm has no use to you but it is useful to other Rank one Gu Masters. Especially in the awakening ceremony next spring, there will be a new batch of students and the Liquor worm will be of great help to them. So, you might as well just sell the Liquor worm to the clan and contribute to clan's strength."

Yami didn't reply.

Hashirama pondered, guessing Yami's intention, "I understand now. You are reluctant to part with the Liquor worm, you even want to fuse it. If I am not wrong, you should be thinking of going the route of the Rank two White Chrysalis, then the Rank three Mist Perspiring butterfly fusion route, right?"

"This is the most widespread and also the most practical recipe. The Mist Perspiring butterfly is a great Gu worm. But the White Chrysalis has no ability. This fusion route wouldn't have much value to you. You have C grade aptitude and now have Rank two cultivation; White Chrysalis doesn't have any ability and will only squander food, it will be of no help to you."

"What is the possibility of you reaching Rank three? Even if you succeeded in advancing to Rank three, you will probably be middle-aged by then. Will you raise the useless White Chrysalis for tens of years? It will be better to use the expenses of raising White Chrysalis on nurturing Gu worms. That is more practical and will be more helpful to you, am I wrong?"

"Liquor worm's true value lies in refining primeval essence and raising a small realm. If you go through this fusion, you will only be treating the Liquor worm as a material, won't that be a pity?"

All Gu worms had only one ability.

For instance, the Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank six Gu, but it only had the ability of rebirth.

The new Gu worm that comes from fusion usually took an ability from one Gu worm and enhanced it. White Jade Gu, for instance, took the defensive ability of Jade Skin Gu and enhanced it, while losing the White Boar Gu's ability to gain increased strength.

That is to say, if someone obtained White Jade Gu, it would only help in defense and couldn't increase the Gu Master's strength.

Hashirama was correct, the Liquor worm's value was in refining primeval essence and raising its stage by a small realm.

To Gu Masters, this was another form of increasing their primeval essence reserves while also being an enormous help in nourishing their aperture and increasing their cultivation speed.

If one went through 'White Chrysalis, Mist Perspiring Butterfly' fusion route, the resulting Gu worms won't have the ability to refine primeval essence which would truly be a pity.

In fact, Flower Wine Monk took this route and refined the Mist Perspiring Butterfly from the Liquor worm, using it to enchant women and commit evil acts. After his death, the Mist Perspiring Butterfly continued to degenerate due to not having sufficient food and finally reverted back to Liquor worm.

Hashirama's eyes flashed upon seeing the silent Yami and continued, "Actually, our clan has a recipe; this recipe raises Liquor worm to Rank two Moon Harbinger Gu then the Rank three Seven Fragrances Liquor worm. Seven Fragrances Liquor worm has the ability to refine primeval essence."

"Yami, if you don't want to sell the Liquor worm, then we could change it to a business transaction. You will sell the Liquor worm to the clan and if the clan can refine it to the Seven Fragrances Liquor worm, you will have the right to use it for five years. If it fails, the clan will compensate for it. What do you think?"

Doing this meant the clan will bear all the risks for the fusion. With such a superior condition, others might eagerly agree to it.

But Yami only sneered coldly in his heart.

He knew himself.

With his 44% C grade aptitude, advancing to Rank three was almost impossible. In his previous life, Yami had stalled at Rank two for over a hundred years before finally and coincidentally obtaining a talent-raising Gu worm and becoming a Rank three Gu Master.

Five years of using rights sounded wonderful but to Yami, it was like trying to catch the moon's reflection in water.

Hashirama had said so because he saw Yami's ambitions to charge to Rank three, so he intentionally threw this sweet bait to lure Yami.

But he had miscalculated from the start!

In Yami's memories, there was the best recipe for the Liquor worm fusion.

First was advancing the Liquor worm to Rank two Four Flavors Liquor worm then to the Rank three Seven Fragrances Liquor worm. Whether it was Four Flavors Liquor worm or Seven Fragrances Liquor worm, both had the ability to refine primeval essence.

However, it was not easy to refine the Four Flavors Liquor worm.

First of all, its fusion required two Liquor worms; Yami only had one currently. Next, the fusion required four types of wine, and these four wines should be of four different flavors: sour, sweet, bitter and spicy.

Let's not talk about the difficulty in purchasing a Liquor worm with there being hardly any supply of it in the market.

Let's look at these four wines first.

Spicy wines were the most common, ordinary white spirit wine were all of this type. For sour wines, you could get bayberry wine and grape wines; rice wines could fit the sweet wine criteria. But as for the bitter wines, it needed some thinking to be done.

From what Yami knew, there was a type of green bitter wine which was brewed by using Kusa grass. Unfortunately Kusagakure was immeasurably far away, how would he obtain it?

Yami had detained the Liquor worm not because he wanted to wait and sell it for a high price. Rather, Yami had all along wanted to go through this fusion route; using any other fusion routes could be counted as ruining the Liquor worm.

How could Hashirama know what Yami had in mind.

Seeing Yami not making any moves to agree at all, he threw his trump card, "Yami, if you sell the Liquor worm, I can mediate between you and Naruto. At least, he won't use the family assets to challenge you to a Gu battle. You also know the clan rules; the challenge must be accepted. Even if the Gu battle request is not approved by the higher-ups, it must first be accepted. Even if you are sure of your defeat and don't want to go to the arena, directly throwing in the towel, you still need to accept the challenge."

This world promoted martial spirit; clans didn't need cowards. If there was a challenge, Gu Masters must accept them. Accepting the challenge proves that you are not a coward. Even if you admit your defeat in front of the public, that too would be a conduct of courage.

Under the oppression of the ruthless environment, this had automatically turned and formed into a system of values.

The clan's higher-ups would arbitrate according to the results of the Gu battles and resolve any problems and disputes.

The premise of a Gu battle was to have a reason. The challenger should be in the right and the challenge should be reasonable, or the two parties could both make an agreement similar to betting, only then would the Gu battle be approved.

"Naruto's Gu battle request is reasonable and fair; it will be approved. If this happens, no matter the result - whether loss or win - will be judged by the elders. Who do you think the elders will side with between you and Naruto?"

Hashirama's smile became bigger, he looked at Yami with a burning gaze and continued to add pressure, "Yami, if you win, you will simply have to part with a tiny bit less of the family assets. But if you sell the Liquor worm to the clan, you will be contributing to the clan. The clan will remember you. I can also guarantee that Naruto would never challenge you on the basis of family assets."

The implication was that Naruto could still challenge Yami with different reasons.

This was one of the things Hashirama and Hiruzen Sarutobi would be happy to see. They hoped Naruto would defeat Yami and break the shadow in his heart to build up his self-confidence.

Yami suddenly smiled, he had been listening to Hashirama's chatters from the beginning. And now, he finally spoke.

"You think I will lose if we fight?" Yami asked Hashirama.

Hashirama also smiled, "Fights are full of variations, no one can foretell what might happen. However, I need to remind you, Naruto has already refined the Rank two Moonveil Gu; you won't have much of an advantage."

"Hahaha." Yami shook his head, and the smile on his face became bigger, "I will lose, I'd definitely lose."

Hashirama stared blankly.

Yami stared into his eyes and continued, "Not only will I lose, I will even lose very miserably. I will hand over all my parents' inheritance, and from then on I will sleep on the street and wander about begging in the village."

"You..." Hashirama was smart, he understood Yami's true intentions. His expression became grave; no longer was it confident and graceful.

Yami's words were a bare threat.

Naruto was being raised as the next clan leader; if it was made known that he had recognized others as his parents, used his cultivation and aptitude to bully his big brother, snatching the inheritance, then there would be a devastating damage to his reputation.

Even in the Shinobi World, a person who did this would be shamed and disdained by people. Let alone in this world where the values of family love was raised to a whole new level.

It wouldn't be anything if Naruto wanted to become a devil. But he was going to become a clan leader, a leader of the righteous path, and that meant he needed to uphold virtue and cherish it.

For a moment, Hashirama looked dazedly at Yami. He discovered that despite hearing a lot about Yami, he had still underestimated the latter.

The dominance that he built up from his many sentences since the moment they met, had now crumbled with a bang.

Yami hit the nail on the head, directly indicating the main part to Hashirama.

If it was another person, Yami would have spoken differently. But Hashirama was someone who had extreme loyalty to the clan and in Yami's previous life, he would rather sacrifice himself to protect the clan. Thus, he had no choice but to worry because of Yami's threat.

However, he quickly calmed down, his eyes staring at Yami as he spoke between clenched teeth, "But you won't do this. Because the inheritance has been your goal all along, how will you cultivate if you give up the inheritance?"

Yami wasn't afraid. He met Hashirama's gaze, his lips curled up in a smile, "That's why I believe you will give up the notion of buying the Liquor worm and also persuade Naruto to not challenge me, am I wrong?"

Others might not be able to persuade Naruto, but Hashirama had this capability.

Yami had no doubt on this.

The situation was in a deadlock.

After a moment, Hashirama lowered his eyes.

He stared at the wine cup in his hand for a while and suddenly laughed.

"Interesting, we will do just that." His tone carried a hint of melancholy.


	19. Generously Letting Off Troublemakers

**Generously Letting Off Troublemakers**

A day later.

On the futon, Yami sat cross-legged.

A large face-sized white light was an arms' distance from his face, silently floating.

Yami took out piece after piece of primeval stones from his money bag and threw them into the light ball.

The white light contracted, but became more eye-piercing.

When it shrunk to a fist-size the white light was glaring, and Yami could only squint his eyes to observe it.

"Probably the last piece…" Yami played around with the primeval stone in his hand, knowing that the critical moment was here.

He tossed the primeval stone into the light ball.

He could vaguely see the primeval stone floating around in the light ball, like snow dropping into boiling water, constantly melting away.

A large amount of rock powder fell on the ground.

The primeval stone vanished, and the light ball exploded!

With a bam, the three Gu worms flew in three directions. One fell on the bed, while the other two flew to the walls, and then dropped to the ground.

Refining the Moonglow Gu had failed!

Yami's heart sank. He quickly moved his finger, calling back his Gu worms.

The Moonlight Gu and Little Light Gu wavered their way to Yami as they floated around, slowly landing in his palm, but the other Little Light Gu had no response.

It laid on the ground, its milky-white five star-shaped body gradually dissipating into the air.

After a few breath's time, it had completely vanished with no lingering traces.

This was the price of a failed fusion — according to the different fusing recipes, the Gu worm might get injured as a result, or when unlucky, might even die.

Even with his rich experience, adding on to the fact that Yami could multitask and had the right recipe, there was still a chance of failure.

Yami was not upset, he had seen such an event many many times. He had already performed to his best, and if the result still failed, it could only be attributed to luck.

"Luckily, it was not the Moonlight Gu that died, but the Little Light Gu. I can just buy another one from the shop, it is easy to replenish. If the Moonlight Gu died, it would not be easy trying to get another one." He had lots of cash now, even if one Little Light Gu died, he could just purchase another one.

Next, he inspected the Moonlight Gu and the remaining Little Light Gu. On the surface of both Gu, it was slightly dimmer than usual. This was the result of an injured Gu due to fusion failure.

"Once a Gu worm gets injured, the chances of a successful fusion would drop drastically. I have to wait for them to recover before I continue trying." Yami knew that haste does not bring success, and quickly kept the two Gu.

He estimated the time, around at least three days later would he be able to perform another try.

Cultivation did not end there.

Yami opened his right palm.

His left hand was pale, and on his palm, there was a green insignia with a grass pattern, like a dark green tattoo.

Yami's thought moved, and the primeval essence in his aperture began to move, like light red fog flowing towards the insignia on his left arm.

The green insignia was instantly brought alive. From Yami's palm, the tip of the grass emerged, followed by the round leaves of nine dark green leaves, lastly followed by the jade green transparent stem. As for the roots, they were not exposed.

On his palm, the original dark green tattoo was gone, only leaving behind traces of dark green lines. It represented the intertwining of the grass with Yami's palm.

It was the Rank two grass Gu — Nine Leaf Vitality Grass.

Right now, Yami's palm was like a piece of land, and a Nine Leaf Vitality Grass was growing on top of it, like the exquisite art made of jade stone carvings.

Yami stretched out his right hand's finger and plucked the leaves.

With every piece of round leaf that he plucked, Yami could feel a slight pain himself, like the feeling of pulling his hair.

After the nine pieces were plucked and placed at the bedside by Yami, there was only the bare stem of the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass left on his palm.

Yami continued to deploy his primeval essence. The light red-coloured Rank two primeval essence continued to rise from his palm like a cloud of mist, and covered the jade green stem.

The stem continued to absorb the primeval essence, and eventually a bud started to grow from deep within the stem.

This budding was pinkish green, small, delicate and very fragile, breaking upon contact.

Yami continued to use his primeval essence, and the bud grew bigger, its colour deepening. Eventually it grew into a piece of dark green colour, a completely mature leaf.

"I used up 20% of my primeval essence." Yami inspected his aperture and concluded.

He only had 44% primeval essence in his sea, that meant that he could only create two vitality leaves at one go.

After creating another piece, Yami grabbed a piece of primeval stone and rapidly recovered the primeval essence in his aperture.

When the primeval essence rose to 40%, he nurtured the vitality leaf again.

Rinsing and repeating like this after half a day, he had finally made the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass grow back to nine full leaves.

He did not pluck the leaves this time, but with a thought, kept the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass back into his left palm, turning it back into a green insignia.

He took the leaves that he plucked and placed them into a small bag, bringing it with him.

A piece of vitality leaf was a Rank one Gu worm, each worth around fifty primeval stones in the market. This meant that with just these nine leaves, it could allow Yami to earn four hundred and fifty primeval stones.

Of course, he incurred costs in creating them, but excluding costs, he still profited around four hundred primeval stones.

Among all of the family assets, the most valuable one was no doubt this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass. Owning it was tantamount to owning a gold mine! And this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass had an advantage too — it was easy to feed. It only needed water and sunlight to survive, thus there was virtually no cost in raising it.

To Yami, he could give up all the other family assets, but for this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, he needed to grasp it firmly in his hands!

Of course, this type of Nine Leaf Vitality Grass Gu was not owned by Yami alone. In the village, others held this grass Gu as well.

In fact, there were five Nine Leaf Vitality Grass Gu that was collective property owned by the clan. Everyday there were specialized Gu Masters whose missions were to create large numbers of vitality leaves.

To Yami, this is a good thing.

If he alone had the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, the clan would definitely strike and buy this grass Gu by force. Just like how Hashirama represented the clan and came to buy his Liquor worm.

Precious Gu like Liquor worm, Black and White Boar Gu and the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, the clan higher-ups all wanted to control it and make it useful for the whole clan.

Three days later.

A light ball under Yami's supervision suddenly exploded, and a new Gu worm floated in midair slowly.

It was sparkling and translucent, bent like a crescent, resembling a piece of water blue crystal. In a nutshell, it was like the Moonlight Gu that was enlarged in size by twofold.

Yet it was not the Moonlight Gu, but the higher-ranking Rank two moonglow Gu.

This time, Yami's fusion succeeded.

The Moonglow Gu is made by fusing a Moonlight Gu and two Little Light Gu. A Little Light Gu can raise the power of the moonblade by 100%, but two Little Light Gu still raised its power by 100%, this boost was not additive.

But the refined Rank two Moonglow Gu, its attack power reached three times of the Moonlight Gu!

Actually, there are many different recipes to refine the Moonlight Gu, and it has many advancement paths.

Yami took this path to raise the moonblade's attack power to the limit. The attacking range remained unchanged, it still had a scope of ten meters.

There was a route — using the Moonlight Gu and the Stone Scar Gu to perform fusion, the result would be the Moon Scar Gu. Its attack power remained unchanged, but the range doubled, reaching twenty meters.

There was another common route, which was using the Moonlight Gu with the Whirlwind Gu to fuse, creating the Moonwhirl Gu. Using it, the moonblade turns from blue to green, and at the same time its attack trajectory becomes curved. Hashirama took this path.

As for Naruto Uzumaki, he used the Moonlight Gu and Jade Skin Gu to create the Moon Raiment. This was a rare route and had an upper limit of Rank five, becoming the Moonlight Treasure King Gu.

However, having a Rank five recipe did not mean it was definitely possible to create a Rank five Gu worm.

Many Rank five Gu Masters did not have a single Rank five Gu in their possession.

What causes this awkward situation is not a lack of ingredients, but the success rate.

Gu fusion was not a 100% success rate. The higher the ranking of the Gu worm you are trying to refine, the lower the success rate. In his previous life, Yami's Spring Autumn Cicada had a success rate of less than 1%, and it failed countless times. Sometimes, he was lucky and less Gu worms died; other times, all the Gu worms died together.

To refine the Rank six Spring Autumn Cicada, it needed all Rank five Gu worms. Once these Gu worms die, all of Yami's hard work and accumulation would go up into smoke, becoming an illusion.

Yami failed countless times and started over many times, fusing once again and collecting Gu worms and special ingredients all over again. Eventually, he caused too much of a commotion and incurred a public outrage, causing the will of the people to become disorganised, and many deaths forming seas of blood and floating corpses.

He was lucky though, as he finally succeeded and obtained the Spring Autumn Cicada.

But once he obtained this Rank six Gu, all the righteous cultivators who were eyeing his Gu all along came to attack, and before he even got a chance to familiarise himself with the Gu, he suicided.

Thousands of millions of years, it was because of this disgusting failure rate that caused many high-ranking Gu Masters to waste their efforts, and go back to square one.

The only way was to slightly curb this failure rate.

And that is —

Vital Gu.

No matter the fusion result, failure or success, the vital Gu never dies. At most it gets injured.

Why?

Many people guessed that it was because the vital Gu is the Gu Master's first Gu worm and is linked to the Gu Master's life, forming a mystical relationship and connection.

As long as the Gu Master is alive, if the vital Gu's fusion fails, at most it would be almost dead.

Of course, the other Gu worms used in the fusion had a possibility of death.

Even so, a portion of the Gu Master's fruits and labour can be preserved and accumulated.

The vital Gu is the Gu Master's greatest fortune and fallback. Whatever the vital Gu is, it can to a large extent affect the Gu Master's development path. Conversely, Gu Masters also find new recipes aggressively to raise the level of their vital Gu.

Some Rank two and Rank three garbage recipes, to Gu Masters, it worsened their future prospects.

When Yami found that the Spring Autumn Cicada had become his vital Gu, why was he so happy?

This was why.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was an extremely rare Gu worm, allowing others to rebirth, it was a heaven-defying ability. No matter how it is refined, it will not die. If this was Yami's previous life where the Spring Autumn Cicada was not his vital Gu, if he continued refining, it could potentially die.

Spring Autumn Cicada was Rank six, something many Gu Masters would never be able to reach in their lifetime. An extremely large number of Gu Masters did not even have a Rank six recipe, and are still desperately searching!

Spring Autumn Cicada, although unable to be used to its full potential by the current Yami, was still his greatest treasure. The Flower Wine Monk's inheritance compared to this, was a difference between heaven and earth.

The cold snow came to an end, and spring wind took its place.

Without realising it, winter had already passed, and the days of spring arrived.

The frozen mountain creek began to flow again. The ice cones under the eaves of bamboo buildings and trees were sparkling and translucent, dripping water in the sunlight.

In the morning, the wine tavern was quite empty, there were not many drinkers.

Yami sat inside at the seat near the window. According to his request, the surrounding was covered by wooden plank screens, creating a small room for him.

A gust of wind blew in from the window, and the fresh and fragrant smell of the earth was wedged between the air, letting people who smelled it feel carefree and pleased.

Jiro sat opposite Yami, his face full of smiles.

"These are the primeval stones this time, please confirm it." He took out four money bags, placing them on the table and pushing it towards Yami.

What was inside the money bag was naturally primeval stones.

Yami did not open them one by one, but checked their weight by holding them in his hand.

He had over a hundred years of experience making deals and transactions, so he could easily tell the number of primeval stones in his hands. One less and he could immediately tell.

This was nothing special, to be honest.

On the Shinobi World, there was an oil seller who placed a coin on the bottleneck and dripped oil inside, where the oil dripped in a line and entered the bottle through the tiny hole without any spillage. There was another divine shooter who could shoot tree leaves at 100% accuracy from a hundred meters away. There was also a butcher who worked for many years, using his hands to check the weight, he could tell their exact weight and when scaled, was exactly as he said.

How to train such a skill?

Nothing else but 'practise makes perfect'!

Accumulation of experience, when enough, can stir up a miracle.

After his rebirth, this kind of experience was naturally brought over as well. Yami used his hand to check, and on finding no problems, he then took out a small cloth bag and gave it to Jiro.

Jiro received it with both hands and opened the bag, checking the quantity carefully.

Although Yami had nine vitality leaves in his possession, he did not plan to sell it himself. If it was Mizuki, he would rather do this to sustain his social relationships and increase his influence.

But Yami was reluctant to do this. It wasted too much time and effort. Thus, he sold them all to Jiro who was a shop owner, so Jiro could sell the Rank one healing grass Gu to the clansmen.

Jiro is Jibei's brother, and when Yami was searching for the Liquor worm, they met before. His brother was even Yami's half-alliance mate, thus, having him take over the transaction and sell to the clan, was a reliable method.

"One, two, three… nine. Indeed, it is nine vitality leaves." Jiro counted three times before closing the bag and carefully keeping the bag close to his body.

Next, he raised his cup, toasting to Yami. "Lord Yami, happy doing business with you, let me toast you!"

His gaze towards Yami carried deep admiration, even turning into a hint of jealousy.

A year ago, when it was also spring. The first time he met Yami, the latter was still a student at the academy, not even having the rights to wear the Gu Master's battle attire.

But now, Yami was not only wearing battle attire, his belt was also red colour, and a square steel piece in the center of the belt — a Rank two Gu Master!

However, he himself was still a Rank one, carrying a green coloured belt.

Nevermind that, what made him jealous was, after getting the inheritance, Yami turned from a pauper into a tycoon.

He owned the wine tavern, bamboo buildings as well as the nine leaf vitality grass. It was all fortune that Jiro would never be able to earn throughout his lifetime!

But, Jiro did not dare to show his deep emotion of jealousy.

Yami sold the vitality leaves to him and allowed him to earn the difference in price. Yami is already his money tree, and Jiro no longer dared to offend this junior.

"Sigh, comparing among people is odious….." Jiro held the cup. His face was full of smiles, but in his heart, he was sighing deeply.

Yami raised his cup and drank it in one shot.

Jiro's expression although secretive, with Yami's old fox wits, how could he not tell?

Yami did not put it to heart, for if Jiro was not jealous, it showed that he had much greater heart, and that would make Yami think more highly of him.

But, he stared at Yami's small fortune and got jealous, this showed how little his world was, insignificant. Drinking with him was solely because he still had some value to exploit.

Jiro put down the cup, excitedly saying, "The clan's vitality leaves are sold at fifty-five primeval stones a piece. I followed your instructions and only sold our grass Gu at fifty primeval stones, and the demand is overwhelming! Lord, why don't you make more leaves daily, that way we can earn much more!"

Yami listened and slowly shook his head, rejecting outright, "No, creating nine leaves is already my limit, it is already wasting much of my cultivating time."

This was the difference between Yami and a mere frog like Jiro.

In Yami's perspective, primeval stones were just a cultivating resource, a tool. It is all for his cultivating needs. However, Jiro treated primeval stones as his life goal, thus he cultivates in order to earn more primeval stones.

But even if Yami only made nine leaves a day, he could earn four hundred primeval stones daily, and with the accumulation, the fortune in his hands also grew to an amazing level.

Seeing Yami's rejection, Jiro did not dare to push his luck, only moving his lips in pity, then continuing to pour wine for Yami enthusiastically, and then for himself.

"Indeed." He exclaimed, "Lord has such great fortune, you do not have to waste time and effort daily. In my opinion, why does lord have to stay in that poor old rented flat? Why don't you empty out a bamboo building and stay there yourself. Then marrying a beautiful wife, and having seven or eight family servants to take care of you. That is truly the dream life. Hehe."

Yami laughed lightly, not saying anything.

How could a farmer understand the ambitions of the conqueror!

He turned around, looking outside the window.

House after house, the bamboo roofs had remnant snow, bathing under the bright and beautiful light of spring. Faraway was a willow tree, the branches of yellow-green soft leaves rolling down, gently swishing in the soft spring breeze.

Yami's gaze was slightly blank as he thought about his current predicament.

After solving the problem of Naruto, the family asset could be said to be in the bag.

The White Jade Gu and Moonglow Gu were successfully refined, he now covered attack and defense. What came next was the Liquor worm.

But the Liquor worm was troublesome. To refine the Four Flavour Liquor worm, he needed a second Liquor worm, as well as sweet, sour, bitter and spicy — four types of wine. These things, he had no idea where to get.

"I definitely have to refine the Liquor worm. Without it, my progress will be slower by at least half. But to refine the Four Flavour Liquor worm, I will need to wait for the caravan and borrow that chance to showcase my White Jade Gu. That way, I can show off my true fighting strength and stop hiding my abilities."

Yami had the Moonglow Gu and the White Jade Gu. Together with his five hundred years of combat experience, he was stronger than most Rank two Gu Masters.

Slightly famous group leaders like sickly snake Orochimaru, if fighting one on one with Yami, might not be his match.

But against Torune, Hana and Hashirama, Yami was still weaker.

One was insufficient cultivation level, Yami was only a Rank two initial stage, but they were upper or even peak stage. Next was the lack of strong Gu worms. Yami only had two battle Gu worms, but they all had at least three and even hidden trump cards.

Among the same age group, Naruto, Kiba and Shino were already showing their dominance, no doubt.

Especially Naruto, now that he had obtained the Rank two Moon Raiment, he already has the ability to fight with Yami. As time passes, his cultivation level will get higher and eventually he will leave Yami in the dust.

Unless Yami can fuse the Four Flavour Liquor worm and maintain the same cultivating speed as Naruto.

As for the higher ranks, those Rank three or Rank four Gu Masters.

To Yami, battle results aside, even keeping his life is a difficult thing, not to mention challenging a higher rank.

Transcending rank was very difficult, one was that Yami did not have trump cards, and two he does not have talent. Even with his rich fighting experience, a woman cannot cook without rice, without a strong Gu worm, his experience cannot display their worth.

"If I can successfully fuse the Four Flavour Liquor worm, my cultivating speed will be satisfactory. But I also have to replenish my Gu worms. Defense I have White Jade Gu, offense I have Moonglow Gu, healing I have nine leaf vitality grass, but I need a movement-type and recon-type Gu, these two although are support types, they can cover up my weakness and at least triplefold my fighting strength!" Yami pondered.

He did not need to learn step by step, with his rich life experience, he already knew the direction to take.

Beside him, Jiro's voice came, "I heard, recently someone is finding trouble with you, lord? Purposely finding trouble at your bamboo building and wine tavern?"

Yami frowned, his train of thoughts were broken.

But Jiro was right.

Yami had investigated, this was his uncle Mizuki's act.

After Hashirama warned his uncle, he did not dare to use Naruto to instigate trouble anymore. But after waiting for a while, the indignance and anger in his heart rose, and using his relationships, he got a few Gu Masters to find trouble at Yami's places.

People who do business hate these kinds of problems.

Thus, recently, he had been finding time to look after the locations.

"Owner, someone is finding trouble again." At this time, a clerk carried a scared expression and walked towards Yami.

"Oh?" Yami's brows raised, not expecting to encounter this immediately.

Not waiting for Yami to react, Jiro stood up abruptly, eagerly saying, "Wait a moment lord, let me go see."

He walked out of the partition and came back almost immediately.

"It is Choza!" Jiro's expression was pale, suppressing his voice. His gaze revealed shock and worry.

Choza?

Yami did things carefully and knew the importance of information. During this period, he had gotten the information of all the Rank two Gu Masters in the clan, and memorised most of them.

Choza is a slightly famous Gu Master, specializing in defense and having a great strength, being the Choza group's leader. In terms of fame, he was higher than Orochimaru by a little.

Bam!

Smashing sound came from outside.

Thereafter, a coarse and arrogant voice resounded, "Blah, what sort of wine is this? Tastes like horseshit, you dare sell this to me?"

"Hmph!" Yami's gaze shone with cold light as he stood up.

Jiro saw that Yami intended to go out, and hurriedly stopped him —"Lord Yami, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. This Choza is very strong, one of the few people who managed to escape for their lives from Haku, he cannot be underestimated."

"Using his loss as glorious fame, what fear is there for these kinds of people?" Yami laughed lightly, stretching his hand to put it on Jiro's shoulder, "Just sit here and drink away."

"Lord..." Jiro was about to urge again, but he met with Yami's icy gaze.

The chilliness in Yami's eyes caused his heart to stop.

He was tongue-tied, helplessly sitting on the chair again while Yami took a few strides and left the partitioned room, walking towards the main hall.

He saw that at the center on a square table, a Rank two Gu Master had one foot stepping on a stool while another stepping on the table.

His body was slightly short, but his arms and waist were thick. With a thick black beard, extending downwards from his cheeks to meet at his chin, his body emitted a strong aura of ferociousness.

The ground near him had broken wine pot fragments, and most of the liquor had seeped into the ground along the concrete cracks on the floor.

Only two or three puddles of wine accumulated on the surface, or in the broken pots.

The shopkeeper old man bowed his head low as he apologised in trepidation, "Lord please be appeased, if this wine is not to your satisfaction, the shop will give you another brew free of charge!"

"Hmph, I don't want wine! Your wine tastes like shit, why are you opening a shop. Compensation, I must be compensated! My good mood was ruined by you guys, you have to compensate me at least five hundred primeval stones!" Choza demanded a ridiculous amount.

"This is the third time already, it seems this wine tavern has offended some people."

"Sigh, let's not drink here anymore."

"Quick, go, when Gu Masters fight, we mortals suffer."

The surrounding people frantically left their seats, only a few Gu Masters remained and continued their chat.

"I heard this tavern is opened by Yami, who is it that is finding fault with him?"

"Oh! The one whose parents died and inherited their fortune, the lad who got rich overnight?"

"No wonder people are doing this, even if it is me, I'd be jealous. Just think, we fight for our lives out there for these fortunes to live a stable life. But he Yami is merely a newbie, what rights does he have to obtain these things!"

"That's right, even if his ancestors are taking care of their future generations, times have changed. The clan's resources are limited. Everyone can only get a small piece of the pie. How can he, a C grade talent, enjoy such fortune at this age? Preposterous!"

"Is Choza trying to anger him into a duel? If they had a Gu fight, he might be able to get a piece of the pie."

Someone shook his head, "Heh, you think those clan elders are fools?"

Someone nodded, "Could be true. The clan policies are there, haven't you guys understood from all these years? To a degree, they allow us to compete, the strong should get more resources, isn't that right? If the weak cannot protect their assets, they would have to give it up. It is all for the clan's prosperity!"

"Mm, makes sense. Let's see first. There's something going on here. I heard that Choza has a retired elder behind him," someone suppressed his voice and said.

"Who dares to leave, all of you stand there, no one is to leave!" On the table, Choza suddenly shouted.

Those mortal drinkers were already at the doorstep, but did not dare to disobey, they all stood at the spot in horror. Some of the pedestrians found that there was drama going on and they went to the doorstep, stopping to watch the show.

"Purely here to find trouble!" Yami upon seeing this scene, his face was emotionless, but his eyes glinted with cold light.

Choza saw him.

"Oh? You are that Yami right. Junior, your wine tavern is cheating my money with your horrible wine. However, since you are a newbie, I'll give you a chance to repent and apologise in public. If not others will say that I, Choza is bullying a junior with my status. Hahaha!"

Choza laughed loudly, "As long as you apologise and bow to me, this matter will be over. I walk my talk, I will do as I promised!"

He patted his chest in thunderous volume, showing an air of magnanimity, but his intention could not lie to the surrounding Gu Masters.

"What a bastard move."

"That's right, If Yami apologised, he would no longer be able to raise his head, and anyone would come over and step on him and bully his weakness. But if he does not apologise, that is disrespecting a senior, and with such an attitude, the entire community will keep him away."

"Yeah, he's stuck with two difficult decisions… oh my, what the fuck!"

The Gu Masters whispered, but suddenly someone's mouth went wide open, able to swallow a duck's egg.

The remaining Gu Masters were in a similar state.

Some stared until their eyeballs almost fell out.

Some choked and spilled out the wine in their mouths.

Some stared in utter disbelief, like statues.

They were here to watch a show, an enjoyable show.

In the end, Yami not only satisfied their wish, but also gave them a great "surprise". The young man instantly flicked his wrist and shot a moonblade out.

Pew!

The moonblade of the Moonglow Gu!

The eerie blue crescent fang flew in the air, as large as a face. Trailing along a square desk, it was quickly cut like tofu into two halves.

"Eh?!" Choza's laughter stood, his pupils dilated as the moonblade became increasingly larger in his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the eerie blue moonblade was already near his face, showing every single strand of his moustache with its glow.

Facing strong feelings of death, at the very last moment, Choza screamed out in panic, "Monolith Gu!"

Immediately, his entire body had a deep grey light. His skin turned and became rock skin.

But before it had fully grown, the moonblade had already hit his chest.

With a light sound, the rock skin tore open and Choza's chest became a large diagonal injury. Blood spilled and poured out of his large wound.

"Ah—!" Intense pain rushed through his nerves as Choza shouted out in horror, his voice full of disbelief and shock.

He had never expected Yami to attack immediately without a single word.

He dared to attack!

In the village, directly using a Gu worm and attacking a clansman?!

Not to say Choza, even the onlookers showed utter disbelief, and were lost for words.

"What situation is this, is this lad crazy?!"

"Not saying a word and immediately going for a fatal attack! Isn't he afraid of killing Choza and being arrested by the punishment hall, paying for his crimes?"

"Young men are way too rash."

"Did you guys see that moonblade? It is definitely not the Moonlight Gu but the Moonglow Gu, to think Yami succeeded in his fusion already."

"Yami, what are you doing?!" Choza stood on the square table, tearing his throat and screaming in a thunderous volume with a face full of ruthlessness.

His entire body's muscles bulged, growing into rock skin at a deeper intensity. The injury was also covered by the rock skin, but large amount of blood still poured out, although less of a fountain.

Yami's face was calm as he continued his walk. He did not talk, or rather, he did not have the intention to talk.

He made another move to reply to Choza.

Another moonblade!

Pew.

The moonblade flew across the short distance and shot out.

"You!" Choza had no time to talk, but raised his arms and protected his brain and chest.

His limbs were covered with a thick deep grey coloured rock, as if arms made from a statue, sturdy and thick.

The moonblade hit his arms, cutting a deep wound, numerous small rock fragments flying out.

The moonblade's strength caused Choza's body to fly backwards.

His entire body was made of rocks, causing his weight to rise drastically. Finally, the table under him could not bear the weight, and with a crack, it collapsed completely.

Choza lost his footing and fell on the ground, his defenses revealing a weakness.

Yami walked slowly, his eyes shining in cold light as he captured the weakness, and fired another moonblade at it.

The moonblade tore through the air and emitted a swooshing sound of the wind.

Choza hurriedly raised his hands, but he underestimated Yami's intense battle experience. Although the moonblade was moving straight, it tunneled for an angle not parallel to the ground.

Choza's arm could block half of the moonblade, but the other half hit his chest.

Injury on top of injury, Choza's chest had even greater blood loss now.

"Is, is he going to kill him?" The Gu Masters who were originally sitting on the seat could not stand it any longer, and they all got up.

The mortals did not dare to make any noise. They watched in fear and anticipation.

Gu Masters killing each other, it triggered something that had been repressed in their hearts all along.

Choza breathed heavily, wanting to climb up. But due to his injuries, the intense pain caused his hard work to be wasted as he crashed on the ground once again with a thump.

Yami walked over slowly.

Choza lost a lot of blood, and his face was pale. He stared at Yami in horror. Yami was walking slowly with a cold expression, getting closer, bringing him greater pressure by the second.

"Yami, you cannot kill me! Killing me, you will be arrested by the punishment hall!" Choza pushed against the floor, trying to move backwards.

He was still bleeding, and along with his body, carved a bright red line on the concrete.

The gallery was silent.

Everyone was stunned by Yami's cold aura and held their breaths as they wanted. Nobody felt that Choza was a worthless piece of shit. Without any composure, they would not have fared any better if they were in his shoes.

Yami walked to Choza, raised a leg and harshly stepped on his chest injury.

The pain caused Choza to draw in a cold breath.

Yami continued to stomp, and Choza began to feel immense pain; like a wild boar charging around was trampling him repeatedly.

He could not endure it any longer, screaming loudly. Even with the thick rock skin's protection, his chest was still enduring great pressure from Yami, and the injury area was still overflowing with blood.

More importantly, Yami's right hand was covered in an eerie blue moonlight, held in place but not fired yet.

This was the symptom before a moonblade attack. Choza thought this worriedly as he did not dare to move a muscle.

"You, you cannot kill me!" He stared with his eyes wide open, growling in difficulty.

"I won't kill you." Yami said the first sentence since he arrived.

His tone was flat, and in the dead silent wine tavern, it reverberated into everyone's ears.

"But I can cripple you, breaking one of your arms, or a leg. According to the clan rules, I have to compensate you a number of primeval stones and be imprisoned for some time. But what about you? Your remaining life would be spent in bed, your injury would reduce your battle capability greatly, and you shall no longer be able to execute missions. Do you think this result is acceptable for you?" Yami stared down at the sprawling Choza, slowly reasoning.

The emotionless voice travelled into Choza's ears, causing his heart to stop and his body to shudder.

He opened his mouth, breathing heavily, his brain becoming more chaotic. Yami's leg exerted strength that made him feel like he was being crushed by a rock, making him feel harder to breathe.

"Damn it, damn it! If I was on guard, if I was not caught off guard and were injured at the start, how could he… Urgh!"

Choza's voice came to an abrupt stop as his gaze met with Yami's eyes.

He lay on the ground, staring upwards.

Yami's half-narrowed eyes, dark and eerily looking down on him.

Just what sort of pair of eyes was that?

If it was full of killing intent, Choza would not be afraid. However, this pair of eyes was filled with indifference.

This indifference was like arrogance towards reality, the disdain towards people of the world, the trampling of life and the abandonment of rules!

"This pair of eyes, this pair of eyes..." Choza's eyes shrunk into pin-size as the deepest memory in his heart played.

The nightmare of his life!

Two years ago, at night in the bamboo forest.

A young man in white clothing, similarly trampling him under his feet.

"Damn it, god damn it! If I had refined the Monolith Gu, how could you break my defense?" Death was impending. He screamed with his life, full of indignance.

"Oh, in that case, I shall not kill you." The white-clothed young man's lips curled, revealing a smile full of interest, "Go back to the village and cultivate harder. Refine the Monolith Gu and let's have a match again. Hehehe, I hope that in the future, you can bring a tint of excitement to my life." Saying so, the young man lifted his feet, sparing him.

Choza breathed roughly, lying on the ground, not expecting this turn of events.

He stared at this white-clothed young man in shock.

The young man looked at him like an ant, saying indifferently, "Why aren't you scramming?"

Choza's body shook as he hurriedly got up and made his escape.

This white-clothed young man was none other than Kiri Village's number one genius, Haku. Back then, he was only Rank two, but could already kill Rank three clan elders!

Choza escaping from him and preserving his life caused his fame to shoot up.

Through the two years, Haku's facial expression had become a blur in his memories, and he could only remember those eyes.

Eyes that looked at the common life, the world with indifference. The high and mighty iris, hiding an unbelievable pride that mortals cannot comprehend.

To think…...

To think!

To think that in his own village, he could see these eyes!

At this moment, Choza's heart was filled with terror, the indignance and anger in his heart dissipating without a drop of fighting spirit left.

Yami closely observed Choza's facial expression.

The young man was slightly shocked, not expecting Choza to be so cowardly.

But, nevermind… just a cowardly mouse.

Yami's objective was achieved, and he let go of his leg, "You can scram now."

Choza felt like he had heard a divine mantra as he rolled and climbed out of the tavern with a pale face.

The audience were stunned.

Yami stood on the spot, his gaze sweeping the area.

The surrounding Gu Masters, Rank one and some Rank two, avoided his gaze subconsciously.

The shopkeeper and clerks were all terrified and excitedly worshipped him. Who did not want a strong backer?

Behind him, Jiro was staring dumbfounded.

He heard a commotion and ran out, but saw Yami chasing away Choza.

That was Choza…...

His heart was shocked to the limit, and his gaze towards Yami changed.

Jealousy had vanished.

At this point, Jiro understood why Yami had such an achievement.

"Because he was never the same kind of person as myself!"

Choza was defeated by the newbie Yami!

The news spread quickly and caused small waves of gossip among Rank two Gu Masters.

Everyone was familiar with the two main characters of this event.

Choza was a slightly famous Rank two Gu Master who had managed to escape with his life under Bai Ningbing's hands; he was not to be sniffed at.

And Yami was the year's champion, many had witnessed him defeating Naruto at the yearly assessment. He also obtained his family inheritance and became rich overnight, causing many to become green with envy.

The gap between the two was clear, but against all expectations, the weaker Yami had defeated the stronger Choza. Such a discrepancy really caught the people by surprise.

As more and more people continued to discuss the event, Yami's fame also rose.

Rank two Gu Masters began to take this young junior seriously.

"He directly attacked without saying a word. Young people are too impulsive."

"He has wealth and has also refined Moonglow Gu, he has some ability."

"He is a lunatic, he is too hard-handed. Reportedly, Choza had to lie in bed for at least three days to recover from his injuries!"

People commented on Yami.

He had made a sudden attack on Choza, initiating a head start; inflicting serious injuries on the very first attack and establishing great dominance. It felt like he did not win honestly.

However, victory was victory and loss was loss.

The result was everything.

Maybe on Earth, most would emphasize the process instead of the results, but in this world where survival was arduous, surroundings full of deadly dangers, victory often meant survival and defeat meant death, losing everything.

Winners gained everything, losers lost everything; almost everyone approved this notion.

Yami had won; it was the fact, no matter how he did it.

A newbie had sprung up by stepping on Choza, entering into everyone's eyes.

Choza had become a stepping stone, his reputation was destroyed. Once he recovered, he would resign from the group leader position.

This was the outcome of a failure.

Close relatives would sympathize with the losers, but they respected and acknowledged the winners even more. Winners represented strength and strength meant better security to the people.

After this event, Mizuki sensibly stopped his dirty tricks.

Choza stepping down had finally made the astute uncle aware of the reality. Yami's growth made him feel helpless, resentment and indignation.

He knew he now had no chance of seizing the inheritance. Continuing was meaningless.

He had used his connections and employed other people to find trouble for Yami; this consumed his primeval stones. Yet Yami had profits coming from all sides.

In case the stalemate continued, even if he had a large amount of primeval stones, the final loser would definitely be he, himself.

Because he lost the bamboo houses, wine tavern and Nine Leaves Vitality Grass, he was now without any source of income; the used primeval stones would be difficult to replenish. By contrast, Yami lacked primeval stones but it was increasing day by day.

The main point was that Mizuki dispiritedly realized that the stalemate would not have any benefits.

Thus, when he heard Choza running away in defeat, he immediately stopped these meaningless actions.

In fact, when Naruto had not been able to create trouble for Yami, it already signified Mizuki's defeat.

With this, Yami's wine tavern's business returned to normal, which was a joyous thing.

There was another joyous matter — the caravan would be coming early.


	20. Righteously Deciding to Stay In The Clan

**Righteously Deciding to Stay In The Clan**

March.

In the bright and beautiful spring sunshine, the light song of the days of spring treaded a lively and cheerful beat as it arrived.

With the warmth of spring, flowers bloomed and grasses grew wildly.

Elemental Mountain was a scene of green as far as the eye could see. Wild flowers blossomed on the sunny side of the hills, forming a colorful and gorgeous sea of flowers. The gurgling and burbling river surged up like a flame and entangled with the sunshine.

Newborn dragonpill crickets came out of their eggs and formed a batch of new swarms, enlivening the nighttime.

At daytime, a large flock of colorful peacock parrots hovered in the air, chirping and twittering.

The warm spring spread its favor and kindness, letting all living things grow in brilliance.

In such a scenery, a caravan was slowly making its way to Elemental Mountain.

Fat black beetles were slowly moving forward, their backs filled with people and goods.

Proud ostriches with brightly colored feathers were pulling handcarts. Hairy mountain spiders disregarded the terrains, winged snakes twisted and snaked forward, occasionally opening its wings and flying forward.

A Treasure Brass Toad was leading the caravan. It was two and half meters tall, its entire body orange-yellow in color. On its back was the Rank four Gu Master, Itachi.

After the caravan stationed in the village, Yami sighed inwardly, "It changed again. In my previous memories, this caravan should have arrived in summer. According to the previous precedents too, the caravan should have only come in summer. Now, however, it has come in spring, two-three months earlier. And its scale is also much bigger."

Yami's rebirth changed his current situation and similarly also influenced his surroundings, creating changes in the future.

The root cause should be due to him killing Uchiha Sasuke.

Yami had deceived everyone, so Itachi mistakenly believed Uchiha Sasuke's death was a conspiracy by his rival, Obito.

After Itachi returned to the clan, he had taken radical steps which made the competition between them more intense.

To strive for exceptional achievements, the Uchiha brothers rushed out even before the year's snow had completely melted, leading the caravans to peddle their goods everywhere.

The clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi received Itachi.

The two Rank four Gu Masters were the leaders of the both sides.

"Brother Hiruzen, I trust you have been well?" Itachi was full of smiles and warmth, but his face had a long scar now.

"Hahaha, brother Itachi, you are quite early this year." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the scar on Itachi's face. His heart jolted but he didn't ask about it.

"The early bird gets the worm. This time, I have brought many precious goods and I believe the noble Konoha clan will have lots of needs." Itachi had made a big effort this time to fight for better achievements.

"Yes, this is good news." Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes flashed. Continuing on, "It just so happens that the day after tomorrow is our clan's Awakening Ceremony, and I would like to invite brother Itachi to attend it."

"Haha, it is my honor to be able to witness the prosperity of Konoha clan," Itachi immediately cupped his hands and sincerely replied.

Inviting others to watch the clan's awakening ceremony was treating them as honoured guests. Itachi could feel Konoha clan's sincerity from this invitation.

"In fact, there is also another matter." Itachi hesitated.

"You have come from afar, so if you have any requests, please say it. Our clan will definitely do our best to fulfil it." Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

Itachi sighed, "Ah, it is regarding Uchiha Sasuke's matter. I have especially brought over a few investigation experts from the clan, and I hope that in the course of our investigation, you can allow us some convenience."

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately revealed a look of understanding.

Apparently, Uchiha Sasuke's death had caused Itachi to fall into an awkward and passive situation in the competition for family assets. It was said that after returning to the clan, Itachi had squabbled with Obito in public and the situation had erupted into an intense fight. The scar on his face could very well be a trace from that fight.

It was no wonder he had come running over at the start of spring; he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

Yami was strolling around tents and street stalls.

The scale of this year's caravan was much bigger than any of the previous years. Not only were there more tents, there was also a Gu house.

Gu house was something only large-scale caravans had. A large-scale caravan usually had two to three Gu houses. Itachi's caravan was at most a middle-scale, but it had a Gu house.

This Gu house was a large tree.

It was eighteen meters tall and it really seemed to reach to the sky. Its roots and branches were twisted like the tangling of dragons and snakes.

The diameter of the trunk at the base was ten meters; it decreased as it went up but the decrease wasn't that visible. The brown trunk was not actually a single entity, and had three layers of space inside.

There were also windows on the trunk. Sunlight and fresh air passed through the window and entered the three layers of space inside.

The branches and leaves seemed to be scarce on the trunk. Only at the treetop was it verdant and lush. The spring wind blew, and the tree leaves shook and created soft rustling sounds.

This was the most common type of Gu house.

The Rank three plant Gu named 'three star cave'.

It could instantly grow once primeval essence was poured into it. There were three rooms arranged in these three layers of space. The defensive power of these rooms were incomparable to that of the tents.

In the continuous stretch of tents, an enormous tree was standing aloft in the middle like a tower; it was like a crane among a flock of chicken.

At the base of the enormous tree, there were two wide doors used as entrance.

Yami followed the stream of people and walked into the enormous tree.

The tree had three layers of space which were transformed into the layout of stores. There were rows of counters inside and on them were displayed all kinds of Gu worms.

These counters were made of wood and were a part of the enormous tree. On top of growing green leaves and branches, the three star cave tree Gu could grow different designs according to the Gu Master's will.

Apart from these counters, there were stools and benches for the customers to rest upon.

A Rank three support Gu Master was constantly operating and monitoring the situation from somewhere in this enormous tree.

In case someone snatched the Gu worms in the counters, the monitoring Gu Master could operate the enormous tree to immediately close the doors and create a momentary prison cell. Countless branches would be madly grown and perform group attacks. At the same time, the security Gu Masters in the tree would also make their moves.

The treehouse was much more secure than the tents and so the goods sold inside were more precious.

Yami had just entered the first layer when he saw a lone counter in the middle and on it was a Liquor worm.

Many Gu Masters were surrounding this Liquor worm, assessing it. Some clicked their tongues in admiration.

Yami swept his eyes over the place, where the other counters also displayed many precious Gu worms.

There were Jade Skin Gu, Whirlwind Gu, Scar Stone Gu and so on.

All these Gu worms were compatible with the Moonlight gu and could fuse into higher Rank Gu worms.

Itachi wasn't completely clear on these fusion recipes, but with his many years of business experience, he knew which Gu worms the Konoha clan might need more.

"Naturally, Itachi's caravan isn't just targeting the Konoha Village, he is really making an all-out effort this time. It seems he was thoroughly provoked when he returned to the clan." Yami's heart moved when he saw this.

"Liquor worm..." Yami lightly muttered, walking to the side of the center reception desk.

He only needed this Liquor worm, along with the sweet, spicy, sour, bitter — four types of wine, to refine the Four Flavours Liquor worm. Of course, such a fusion also entailed a chance of failure.

But if Yami did not have a second Liquor worm, he does not even have a chance to try.

This is life after all, hard work does not mean results, nor success. But if one does not work hard, they are destined to fail.

The Demonic path was the same, the demonic cultivators are good at clearing obstacles in their way, bravely advancing in their paths. To most people in the world, they were seen as extremists and adventurous.

"I was still worried earlier as to where to find a second Liquor worm. To think that fate sent this Liquor worm right to my doorstep. The chance is in front of me, how can I give up? I must get this Liquor worm!" Yami's eyes shone with determination.

"If my cultivation reaches Rank four or five, with a strong fighting capability, I would snatch it away without a thought, killing gods and slaying buddhas in my way! If I was Rank three or four, with my ample experience, I can steal it without anyone finding out. Sadly I am just a Rank two now, in fact I'm just initial stage..."

Yami sighed in his heart, "I can only purchase it fair and square like this."

He looked at the price on the counter.

"Liquor worm — Five hundred primeval stones."

The Liquor worm's normal price is five hundred and eighty primeval stones. The price here was actually eighty pieces cheaper than the market.

But if Yami really thinks he can spend five hundred primeval stones to buy this Liquor worm, then his five hundred years of living would have been in vain.

The low price was just to attract customers and trigger people's mentality and greed into buying it.

This treehouse was obviously Itachi's asset.

"Grandma, this Liquor worm is only five hundred primeval stones!" A young girl walked in, screaming in shock.

The young girl's eyes were glowing, shaking her grandmother's hand, "Grandma, tomorrow is the awakening ceremony. Didn't you promise to give me a present? Why don't you give this Liquor worm to me."

The young girl's grandma had a white waist belt, and the belt had a square silver piece with the number "3" on it.

Once a Gu Master reaches Rank three cultivation, they automatically ascend to clan elder position.

Only that among clan elders, there were differences. There were elders in power who held great political power. While others were not, they would only be controlling the departments with little profits.

But this Rank three elder was not those weak clan elders.

"Tsunade..." Yami recognised her immediately, this was the medicine hall's clan elder. The medicine hall is the clan's support faction, it can be said to be the most lucrative department. Tsunade had very great influence due to her seniority, even towards the clan leader, she could do away with paying respects and reply while sitting. She was the number one healing Gu Master in the clan and had saved many lives of the clan elders, thus having very strong network in the clan.

"Alright, alright. If my obedient granddaughter wants it, grandma will buy for you." The old woman's face was full of wrinkles. She was a hunchback and had a walking cane in one hand, helplessly sighing and saying with a benevolent face.

"Grandma is the best, I knew grandma dotes on me the most," The young girl happily grabbed Tsunade, joyfully planting her lips on her grandma's cheek.

"Then grandma, let's call the shop assistant and buy this Liquor worm immediately!"

Tsunade shook her head, "My lovely granddaughter, the Gu worm here isn't bought like that. Let granny teach you, you see that stack of paper and pen over at the counter?"

The young girl nodded, "I see it."

Tsunade said, "Go get a piece of paper and use the pen to write down the price of the Liquor worm. After that, stuff it into the hole. If among all the bidders, your price is the highest, this Liquor worm will belong to you."

"So that's it, very interesting." The young girl took a bamboo paper and held the pen, but hesitated when writing down.

Her lovely eyebrows frowned as she thought hard for a moment, then finally pouting her lips, she said, "Grandma, what price would be appropriate? If I set it too low, other people will get the Liquor worm, but if I set it too high, I would be making a loss."

Tsunade laughed, teasing her, "How can it be so easy to buy the Liquor worm? Let's see your luck..."

"Grandma!" The young girl said coquettishly, hogging Gu yue Tsunade's limp and shaking arm.

"Alright, alright, stop swinging, my body is going to collapse." The old woman sighed, "Grandma will fill it for you."

The young girl quickly jumped, saying, "I knew grandma is the best!"

Tsunade wrote a price before putting her own name as the young girl watched in anticipation.

After she had finished, she folded the paper and signalled to the girl, "Go, put the paper in."

The young girl obediently took the paper and found the hole in the counter and stuffed the paper in.

She returned beside Tsunade, feeling uncertain, "Grandma, will this do?"

The old woman nodded, "That's about it. But life is hard to predict, someone might put a higher price. But that price would be too high. If they really bidded so much, the person who bought this Liquor worm is a fool. Don't worry, the Liquor worm is in the bag."

"Oh." The young girl nodded with a cute expression.

"Let's go. Come accompany grandma upstairs and look around."

"Okay, grandma."

Seeing them leave, Yami's eyes shone with severity.

This Tsunade, to him, was a tough competitor, not to be underestimated.

But this situation, Yami had prepared and anticipated it.

The Liquor worm was precious. Although it was only usable for Rank one Gu Masters, the Liquor worm could refine primeval essence and that was very useful. Refining primeval essence and raising it by one small stage — this meant that the primeval essence storage increased and this had a great driving force towards Gu Master cultivation.

The only flaw is that the Liquor worm did not have a good prospect in the future.

According to the popular recipes, Liquor worm was only used as a fusion ingredient, and the new Gu worm created does not have the primeval essence refining ability.

This was too much of a waste. In fact, it was not worth it.

Thus, most clans have the Liquor worm and did not use it to undergo fusion, but is used by the academy to allow the students to take turns using it.

If Yami exposed his advancement recipe, the Liquor worm's market value would rise drastically.

"Sigh, it is not easy to get this Liquor worm. This grandma and granddaughter is just one competitor. I wonder how many others are there who have placed the paper into this hole?"

Liquor worm was a good thing, and people naturally want good things.

Just that among these competitors, some were sincere about buying it, while others were just trying their luck. Some are affluent, like Tsunade, while some were poor, like Yami.

"Luckily, I got back the family assets, and these few days I've sold some Rank one vitality leaves, plus the wine tavern and bamboo buildings are all rented out. Thus I could accumulate some savings. If not, I would not even be able to compete."

But he had too little time to save up. On one hand he had a lot of Gu worms to feed, and in terms of fortune he could not compete with an old woman like Tsunade.

"Sigh, let's go. Lord Tsunade just tossed in a paper."

"I saw it too, it seems I'm not fated to have this Liquor worm."

The Gu Masters surrounding this counter all left dejected.

Only Yami still stood there.

His eyes were like the abyss river, shining with cold light.

The Gu Masters who left were all scared off by Tsunade's aura and backed out of their own accord. But how could Yami be scared away?

"Some chances are just in front of you, only that people choose to give it up. I still have a chance!" Yami's brain worked intensely as he fell into deep thought.

To compete fortune, Yami was not her match.

Even then…...

That did not mean that Tsunade's bidding amount was definitely higher than Yami!

Even though the Liquor worm was precious, it was still a Rank one Gu worm. The price of any commodity would fluctuate, but it would definitely not rise or fall beyond a certain limit. Thus, all price deviations have a range.

The crucial point now is, what price did Tsunade give!?

She did not lack money, and for the granddaughter she doted, how much was she willing to pay?

As long as Yami's price, if even a single point, is higher, he wins.

This is a different kind of battle! The strong might not necessarily win, the weak might not necessarily lose. Guessing and gambling made the fight much more exciting.

"If it were others, they might not be able to guess it. Tsunade, you purposely said some things earlier to scare away competitors? But in front of me, you are still too tender!" Yami's lips curled into an angle as he smiled confidently.

In this world, transactions were very interesting.

If it was on Earth, the seller would definitely adopt an auction style when selling rare Gu worms like the Liquor worm.

But in this world, auction did not work well.

An important reason was that kinship is the greatest value here, it is the clan's cohesiveness.

If an auction was held, the clan's members would have a subconscious animosity towards outsiders like Itachi.

Once the auction items are priced too highly, they would step out of the competition and even try to appease the seller, making some leeways to exchange and compensate.

This world's people had one viewpoint — Losing to the family is okay, but for an outsider to earn from it, that is an insult to the entire clan!

Unless, a few clans joined in an auction together. In that case, there is competition, and it would be full of rivalry.

But these auctions were hard to conduct.

Because transport is inconvenient.

Transport is the basis of trade, and if the transport system is not developed, the business and trade would dwindle. Because in trade, it was the movement of commodities that matter.

Each village occupied a mountain and stayed far from each other. The roads that connected them are hard to travel, constantly having wild beasts, cliffs, coupled with dangerous terrain and weather, and even dangerous wild Gu worms — it was truly full of difficulties.

Such an inconvenient transport system made it difficult for different clans to come together for an auction.

Even at Elemental Mountain with its three clans, Itachi did not dare to organise an auction.

Firstly, where would it be held? It isn't safe in the wilds, and if it is held in the Konoha Village, the other two clans would not feel safe.

He was only Rank four, and the head of the other three villages were also Rank four. He could not suppress the situation. Compared to Earth, trade here was not developed and had its own rules.

Using his knowledge of business and enterprise from Earth, Yami managed to earn and also lose money. After some painful experiences, he finally learnt from experience.

Combining the complete business knowledge from Earth, along with his personal experience, without bragging, Yami had the top tier knowledge in the business industry in this entire world.

Just an old woman who had lived in the Elemental Mountain's village her whole life, she dares to obstruct me in getting the Liquor worm?

Old woman, you're far too tender!

"Grandma, what Gu is this?" The young girl curiously pointed at the central counter in the third floor.

There were three floors in this treehouse; the first floor sold Rank one Gu worms, the second floor sold Rank two Gu worms and the third floor sold Rank three Gu worms.

The higher you went, the lesser the Gu worms and the more expensive the price.

Naturally, the Gu worms that were put for sale in the treehouse were all rare and precious.

Tsunade followed her granddaughter's gaze and saw a round bucket-shaped, tall and thin tree stump. The stump had five branches like five fingers of a human and were intertwined in the middle.

A sphere-shaped Gu worm that was thumb-sized was wrapped around by the fine branches and covered by green leaves, emitting a white silvery glow.

"This is a white silver Relic Gu, it can only be used once and can instantly raise a Rank three Gu Master's cultivation by a small realm," Tsunade slowly explained.

Relic Gu was a series Gu worm.

Rank one had green copper Relic Gu which was specially targeted towards Rank one Gu Masters. Rank two had red steel Relic Gu which was effective only on Rank two Gu Masters, and Rank three was this Silver Relic Gu.

Rank four had yellow golden Relic Gu.

"The price is thirty thousand primeval stones, it's so expensive!" The young girl was so shocked, she stuck out her tongue.

Tsunade nodded, "Its final price should reach at least fifty thousand primeval stones. Alright, we have strolled long enough here, let's go to the first floor reception desk, the results to the Liquor worm's bidding should have come out."

In the treehouse, a Rank one Gu worm would only be displayed for half a day once there was a bid on it. For Gu worms that people had little interest in, it would be kept on display till someone made a bid.

Rank two Gu worms would be displayed for a day and Rank three ones for two days.

At first glance, this practice looked odd but when put in practice, this was the most suitable way of doing business.

At the reception desk.

"What, the Liquor worm has been bought by someone else?" Tsunade immediately frowned upon seeing the results. She had put a high price and was confident in obtaining the Liquor worm, but to think she had actually miscalculated.

"Hmph! Who is it to be so bad as to snatch my dear Liquor worm?" The young girl angrily asked.

"Shizune," Tsunade reminded her granddaughter.

The young girl pouted and obediently shut her mouth.

The sales clerk behind the counter was a Rank two female Gu Master. She slightly bowed and answered the young girl, "I am sorry, we can't divulge our customers' information. Each business has special rules, please forgive me."

It was this confidentiality that dispelled many customers' apprehensions and allowed them to freely take part in the bid.

Sometimes, people would have some things they clearly wanted, but they would yield to others because of feelings and courtesy. After all, they would frequently see each other in the clan.

But such a method of doing transactions secretly allowed one to go around the problem of sentiments.

Why would such a good thing need to go to you? Because you are my senior, relative or friend?

Never underestimate the dark side in everyone.

Such secret transactions allowed this dark side to come out.

Tsunade ruminated for a while and said, "I know the rules. You don't need to worry little girl, I won't ask the name of that person who bought the Liquor worm, I only want to know what the final price was."

The female Gu Master bowed again, "I am really sorry, the price is also confidential. But please don't worry, the final price was definitely the highest among all the bids. Uchiha family's business has always centered around honesty."

"Hmph, little girl, do you know who I am?" Tsunade's face sank and coldly snorted.

"What is going on?" At this moment, a Rank three middle-aged Gu Master hurried over.

This treehouse was constantly being monitored; they would naturally know if anything occurred.

"Lord supervisor." The female Gu Master immediately greeted this middle-aged man.

The man waved his hand at the girl, "You can leave now, I will handle it here."

He turned towards Tsunade and smiled, "So it was lord Tsunade. She should be your granddaughter, right? She looks smart and sweet."

Tsunade's expression softened upon seeing that this man was also a Rank three Gu Master, but she still asked to know the final price.

The male supervisor felt that the situation was rather tricky.

He was an elder at the caravan and also a trusted aide of Itachi. After doing business for many years, he had a deep understanding of the Konoha Village's situation and knew the influence this old woman had.

To them, even if they offended Shibi Aburame or Gaku Inuzuka, they wouldn't want to offend Tsunade. The latter's influence was second only to clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The male supervisor pondered and said, "How about this, since lord Tsunade wants to purchase the Liquor worm, I could call the shots and secretly transfer one over. To be honest, the warehouse has three Liquor worms and Lord Itachi personally decides where to sell them. You should know how precious the Liquor worm is. As for the price, let's decide your bidding price as it."

However, Tsunade slightly shook her head and knocked the cane on her hand on the ground.

She said, "I am not looking for a bargain. The price...will be the same as the selling price of the previous Liquor worm."

"This….." The supervisor hesitated, he naturally saw Tsunade's aim.

Tsunade pretended to be annoyed and continued to pressure the male supervisor, "What? Is the price so high that you are afraid I won't be able to afford it?"

"Of course, I didn't mean that. Sigh, alright, we will do like you say." The supervisor sighed and said a price.

Upon hearing the price, the young girl first heaved a sigh of relief, but soon after that she felt somewhat indignant, "What, it was only twenty primeval stones more than ours?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, but didn't speak.

Meanwhile, Yami had already exited the treehouse and arrived at the wine tavern.

The second Liquor worm was already in his possession, and now the only things he needed were the four types of wines — sour, sweet, bitter and spicy wines.

"I already have the sweet wine; there is still quite a lot of the golden honey wine remaining from the family inheritance mission. Spicy and sour wines should not be a problem. My only concern is the bitter wine." Yami was a bit worried when he thought of this.

If he had bitter wine, he could begin refining the Four Flavours Liquor worm tonight.

Many things in life were like this, whatever you fear, it will come true.

Yami's worry became reality. He spent several hours rushing through countless tents; he found spicy and sour wines, but he didn't find bitter wine.

"Not everything in this world follows our wishes." Yami was very helpless. He could only set aside the fusion plan for the Liquor worm.

Without the Four Flavours Liquor worm, his cultivating speed would be ordinary.

In the afternoon, he went to the treehouse again.

There were new Gu worms in many counters on the first floor.

The central counter - where the Liquor worm had been displayed - was now occupied by a Cleansing Water Gu.

The Cleansing Water Gu resembled the leech on Earth, except it was much cuter than the leech; its whole body had a light-blue luster like that of the glimmering water.

"Cleansing Water Gu can remove the mixed aura in the aperture. To Shino, it is a Gu worm that he must have." Yami thought of Shino when he saw this Cleansing Water Gu.

He knew Shino only had a C grade aptitude and had forcefully raised his cultivation with the help of his grandfather Shibi Aburame's primeval essence, thus Shibi's aura was mixed inside Shino's aperture. If Shino didn't clean it off, then his future prospects would be jeopardized.

"Shibi will definitely buy this Gu worm for Shino. Hmm, let me think…..his quote should be between six hundred thirty to six hundred forty."

This price was much more than the Liquor worm's market value. The main reason was that Shino especially required this Gu worm.

"If I quote six hundred fifty, it should get me this Cleansing Water Gu. Just by adding ten primeval stones, this Cleansing Water Gu is bound to fall in my hands! As for the Liquor worm I bought this morning, my quote should have been about twenty primeval stones higher than Tsunade's." Yami coldly smiled inwardly.

He had this self-confidence.

His five hundred years of experience and the advanced business knowledge from Earth had combined to form this self-confidence. It was beyond ordinary.

With his previous life's experience, when he just put ten more primeval stones, he had an eighty percent guarantee of getting the goods. When he bought the Liquor worm, the reason why he had put ten more primeval stones was because of his cautious nature.

Yami didn't make a quote, he didn't need the Cleansing Water Gu. And if he obtained it, then it would be investigated by Shibi. Of course, the main reason Yami did not bid was because he needed to hold onto the remaining money to see if there were any good Gu worms in the coming days.

"I lack two types of Gu worms; a scouting-type and a movement-type. The wolf tide will come in the coming year, and the caravan won't come again. Although there is the Flower Wine Monk's hidden inheritance, that was hastily left behind by Flower Wine Monk after he was injured. Who is to say if it is complete or not and what Gu worm would be next?"

In his memories, the wolf tide next year will be very dangerous. Yami didn't want to be powerless just because he lacked Gu worms, being injured or even perishing in the wolf tide.

It would be a disaster for the current him if he were to be surrounded by wolf packs.

Before that happens, he needed to make sufficient preparations; both his cultivation and Gu worms shouldn't be lacking.

After this, he repeatedly went to the treehouse for three days.

On the third day, in the first floor of the treehouse, he discovered something to be happy about — a Black Boar Gu!

Black and White Boar Gu were Gu worms that could increase the fundamental strength of Gu Masters. Yami had already used the White Boar Gu and received a power equal to that of a boar. If he used another White Boar Gu again, he wouldn't receive any increase in strength. But the Black Boar Gu was different, its ability could overlay with the White Boar Gu's.

Hence, at noon, there was one more Gu worm in his possession.

After that, there was nothing.

Some scouting and movement-type Gu worms appeared on the counters but they couldn't satisfy Yami.

These Gu worms were displayed on ordinary counters and the price wasn't good, so there weren't many who would purchase them. Yami heard the caravan would be staying for eight days, so he patiently waited without becoming anxious.

It was the seventh day.

In the second floor of the treehouse, Yami discovered a red steel Relic Gu.

It could instantly raise a Rank two Gu Master's primeval essence by a small realm!

Its price was marked at three thousand primeval stones, attracting many Rank two Gu Masters to bid over it, dropping papers in the counters; it was a very lively scene.

"If I obtain this red steel Relic Gu, I could push my cultivation to middle stage instantly. With the middle stage scarlet primeval essence, I would be able to use the Moonglow Gu and White Jade Gu many more times."

Cultivation was the foundation of a Gu Master, an increase in cultivation meant an increase in fighting power. In terms of its effects, it was far better than getting the scouting and movement Gu worms.

Moreover, these two types of Gu worms in the treehouse were all ordinary to Yami, with none catching his eyes.

"I have purchased the Liquor worm and Black Boar Gu, I also bought some wine. This red steel Relic Gu's final price will definitely cross five thousand primeval stones and could even reach eight thousand. After all, everyone knows about the wolf tide, so raising one's cultivation by a small realm will be a lot of help. My primeval stones won't be enough if I want to get this Relic Gu!"

Yami instantly realized that an obstacle had appeared in front of him.

Even though he inherited his parents' assets, to Yami, the time he had to accumulate wealth was still too little.

Activating the vitality leaf, he could not do it daily as it consumed a lot of time. Every time he grew out nine vitality leaves, half a day would be expended.

Yami considered for a moment. The sale time of this red steel Relic Gu is only one day. In such a short time, to come up with these large amount of primeval stones, the only way was to mortgage his wine tavern or the bamboo buildings.

This was nothing to feel pity over.

A year later, it would be the wolf tide. Under the wolves' attack, Konoha Village would desperately hold on several times, and during the most severe attack, even the front gate was broken through. The clan leader and the clan elders restrained the lightning crown head wolf, and Hashirama sacrificed his own life to block the gate and stabilized the situation.

The wolf tide caused Elemental Mountain's three clans to suffer a great reduction in clan members. Although not as much as 90% was gone, but at least half the population was wiped out.

By then, there would be more property than people, what talk would there be about renting out the bamboo building? The wine tavern was facing the eastern gates, who would dare to drink there? Even if they wanted to drink, the tavern would've gotten used by the clan and turned into a defensive tower.

Right now, the clan and many people were underestimating the severity of the wolf tide. At this point, if he could get rid of the tavern and bamboo buildings, he would be able to sell it at the best price.

"Money and fortune are just material goods, only one's cultivation is the root. But, selling it to the clan is too cheap. If I sell it to an individual, the price would be higher. But who would have the financial ability right now to buy my bamboo building and tavern? Such a huge transaction, it is not something that can be settled at one go. Both sides have to observe and haggle for the best prices, that would take too much time. I only have one day. Wait, maybe someone can..."

Yami's inspiration struck as he thought of someone.

This person was none other than his uncle Mizuki.

Uncle and Aunt were both cunning and miserly. These decades of operating the tavern, bamboo buildings and selling the vitality leaves, they must have a huge stash of primeval stones.

Moreover, these assets were originally operated by them. All and all, it can save a lot of observation time.

The most important part was, they desperately needed this family asset to continue operating. No matter how much assets they had, without any income, this was like a river without a source; their primeval stones would get lesser and lesser, anyone would also be anxious over it.

It could be said, Uncle and Aunt were the best transaction targets.

Thinking of this, Yami hesitated no longer, leaving the treehouse and walking towards Mizuki's estate.

The one who opened the door was Sakura, his former servant.

"Ah, it- it's you!" Seeing Yami, she was very shocked.

Soon, she realized her slip of the tongue, and her face turned white from horror. Yami was now a Rank two Gu Master, but she was a mere mortal, the difference between them was like heaven and earth.

More importantly, Yami was the ruthless person who dared to kill the Inuzuka family servant, later mincing the corpse and sending it to the Inuzuka family.

"This servant pays her respects to young master Yami, welcome home, young master." Sakura shivered from her fear and her knees went soft, kneeling on the ground.

"Home?" Yami took a step into the courtyard. Seeing the familiar settings, his face showed a hint of mockery; there was no sense of belonging or attachment.

A year later, he had returned here once again.

Compared to his mental impression, this place was much more vacant. Just as Naruto had said, some family servants were already sold away or retrenched.

Yami's sudden appearance had alarmed Uncle and Aunt.

As the housekeeper, Mebuki Haruno arrived at the first moment, kneeling and bowing to invite Yami into the living room, and served him tea by hand.

Yami sat on the chair, observing the living room.

Many of the furniture was missing, and the decor was much more simple and plain.

But this did not mean that Uncle and Aunt had no savings.

"Mizuki is still very cunning, this is an act of self-preservation. He had already stepped into the background, and his battle strength had drastically slipped. Most importantly, he had lost the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, meaning that he had lost the trump card in maintaining his personal relationships, no longer able to exert influence outside."

A man's wealth is his own ruin by causing another's greed.

After Yami inherited the assets, many clansmen were jealous and eyed his fortune.

As for Uncle and Aunt, they faced the same problem. The huge amount of savings they had was both a blessing and a problem.

Not showing off one's wealth, to them, this was the correct method of living.

At this time, footsteps could be heard.

The footsteps got closer, and soon, Aunt appeared at the doorstep.

"Yami, you actually still dared to come back here!" Seeing Yami, the rage in her heart appeared out of nowhere, screaming shrilly, "You traitorous scoundrel, how did we raise you. And to think you treat us like this, do you have a conscience, has your conscience been eaten by a dog!"

"You still have the cheeks to come here, and have the cheeks to drink tea here? Are you here to see our sorry states, now that you've seen it, are you happy?!"

Her finger pointed at Yami, her other hand at her waist as she screamed like a shrew.

If not for Yami wearing a glaring Rank two Gu Master battle attire, reminding her, she would have pounced on him and strangled him.

Yami paid no heed nor showed any expressions to Aunt's finger or her angry accusations.

A year of not meeting, Aunt's yellow face, although full of rage and hatred, could not hide her haggardness.

Her clothes had already changed to a simple hemp garment, and the accessories on her head had reduced. WIthout any make up, her mouth looked sharp and her face small, like a monkey.

Yami getting back the assets had caused a great influence and impact on her daily life.

To her furious bantering, Yami paid no heed to them, he held up his cup and drank some tea before saying slowly, "My trip here today is to sell the tavern and bamboo buildings, does Uncle and Aunt have any interest?"

"Pah, you traitorous wolf, what good can you have, wanting to sell the tavern and bamboo…" Aunt's tone stalled as she finally reacted, her face showing disbelief, "What, you want to sell the tavern and bamboo buildings?"

Yami put down his teacup, leaning back on the chair, closing his eyes to rest, "Better to get Uncle here to discuss with me."

Aunt gritted her teeth, not believing it, her eyes like erupting flames as she stared angrily at Yami, saying, "I know, you're trying to toy with me, that's why you said that! Once I agree, I will get harshly mocked and ridiculed. You think I'm a fool, and would be played by you?"

This was purely a way of thinking from a person of low social status.

Yami sighed in his heart, before saying one sentence to change his aunt's attitude—

"Say any more bullshit and I'm leaving. I believe others would be interested in these assets. By then, I would have sold it to other people, so don't you both regret it."

Aunt paused for a moment, "Do you really want to sell these assets?"

"I am only waiting for five minutes." Yami opened a slit of his eyes to talk, before shutting them again.

He heard Aunt stomping her foot before a series of quick and softer footsteps.

Not long after, uncle Mizuki appeared in front of Yami, but Aunt did not accompany him.

Yami looked at him.

Uncle was already aging extensively, his originally well-maintained face had shrunk, and there was much more white hair on his head now.

He had been worrying these few days.

Losing the family assets, he lost his financial sources all of a sudden. Without the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, he also lost his outside influence.

His "hidden elder" title, was already falsifying.

Although he had a huge amount of fortune in his hands, without his influence, these primeval stones had gotten troublesome.

The clan's politics was to encourage the clansmen to compete for resources, especially the rules on Gu fighting, it was inhumane and non-friendly. But this could exterminate parasites and the appearance of a good-for-nothing second generation, allowing the clan's people to maintain a sense of alertness. This also allowed the clan's fighting force to maintain at a strong position.

In this world, only strong fighting force could ensure survival. Tornadoes, floods and beasts do not speak sense with you.

These years, Mizuki had lived a life of peace, and his fighting ability had diminished. In order to reduce his burden, the Gu worms that he used to fight with, he had sold them away already.

If someone sent him a challenge now, he would definitely lose more than win.

Towards his uncle, Yami spoke openly about his purpose in coming.

"Yami, I shall not beat about the bush. I don't understand something, why do you need to sell the wine tavern and bamboo buildings? If you keep them, you will have a steady source of income." Uncle could not believe it, but his tone was much more acceptable than aunt's.

"Because I want to buy a red steel Relic Gu." Yami said honestly, there was no need to hide such things.

"So that's it." Uncle's gaze shone, "Then, you are selling the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass too?"

"That is impossible." Yami shook his head without any hesitation, "I am only selling the wine tavern, the bamboo buildings, the land and the eight servants."

Nine Leaf Vitality Grass was the most valuable thing in the asset, Yami needed its healing ability as well as selling them to earn primeval stones. It could sustain his cultivation and also feed the Gu worms.

Furthermore, next year the wolf tide was coming, and the vitality leaves' price would soar. With this Nine Leaf Vitality Grass in hand, Yami would have no problems with primeval stones for his Rank two cultivation journey.

But if uncle obtains the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, his "hidden elder" influence would instantly recover. Yami did not want to see this happen.

Seeing Yami's determined attitude, Mizuki's heart was very disappointed. At the same time, he felt helpless.

The two had a secret talk for two hours, then they signed an extremely secure transfer agreement.

Mizuki regained the tavern, bamboo buildings, family servants and land, while Yami led three family servants who were holding a box full of primeval stones each, towards the treehouse.

They each got what they wanted.

Hearing the news, Aunt rushed over. Seeing Mizuki's contracts and deeds in his hands, she stared with round eyes and showed overwhelming joy, "Hubby, that lad got stupid from cultivating, he actually sold away such a profitable business! So stupid, wanting the eggs and not keeping the hen that lays eggs."

"Will you die if you stop talking, shut up." Mizuki sounded very irritated.

"Husband..." Aunt pouted, "I'm just happy about it."

"Do not get complacent! With this tavern and the bamboo buildings, we have to be even more cautious now and keep a low profile. A huge tree attracts the wind. Although Naruto is our adopted son, we cannot misuse this relationship. After all, Naruto has not fully developed himself yet, who knows what the future entails?" Mizuki sighed deeply.

"Got it, husband!" Aunt listened while staring at the stack of deeds, laughing uncontrollably.

Mizuki's face was solemn throughout.

The transaction went well, and he now had income. The primeval stones he spent would be replenished with two or three years of operation. But he was not happy at all.

His mind was full of Yami's silhouette.

For a Relic Gu, Yami unhesitantly sold the assets, this was akin to giving up the comfortable life ahead.

Mizuki placed himself in Yami's shoes and thought, would I be able to do this?

I can't.

Even if he did not like Yami, filled with hatred and disgust, at this moment he could not help but exclaim in his heart, "Able to give up and abandon his future comforts just like that, what great resolve he has!"

"The competition is really fierce, who knows who the final winner will be."

"I have been standing here for just fifteen minutes and have already seen over ten Gu Masters putting quotes in the counter."

"Ah, this is a game for the rich. People like us don't even qualify to compete."

In the second floor of the treehouse, Gu Masters were surrounding the central counter; discussing and sighing.

As night approached, the competition for the red steel Relic Gu had reached its peak. Many Rank two Gu Masters who were observing in the dark started putting their quotes in this final hour.

Some Gu Masters even made several bids.

"The final winner for this struggle should be either Hana or Torune," someone guessed.

"That's possible. Hana and Torune are both at Rank two upper stage. With this Relic Gu, they can advance to peak stage and be at the same level as Hashirama."

"In recent years, Hashirama has been hanging over their heads. I don't believe these two don't have any thoughts about it."

"We can't say for sure. It is not only us Rank two Gu Masters, there are even some Rank three elders who have made bids. Just this morning, someone saw Lord Tsunade casting her bid."

"Right, I also heard that. Lord Tsunade's granddaughter Shizune is taking part in the coming Awakening Ceremony; Lord Tsunade should be preparing ahead and paving the way for her granddaughter."

"Ah, how good would it be if I had such a doting senior!"

Yami was among the crowd, his gaze tranquil as he listened to the discussions.

No one had mentioned his name. In the people's eyes, Yami was only a lucky kid who had just inherited the family assets. In their minds, Yami was still not at the level of people like Torune, Hana and Hashirama.

"Great. The less attention on me, the more smoothly can I get this red steel Relic Gu. But with these repeated purchases, I should have attracted his attention."

Yami was ninety-nine percent sure of getting this Relic Gu; he began to think of another problem.

If the following events develop according to his expectations, then there would be a perfect ending to his several days of effort.

It was time.

The leaves and branches on the counter suddenly grew and wrapped firmly around the Relic Gu. The green leaves blocked the people's sight and when these leaves again unfolded, the red steel Relic Gu was not there anymore and was replaced by a Revert Gu.

The Revert Gu looked like a flat, oval, palm-sized stone. Its surface was slightly bulging and smooth, forming an eye pattern. The base of the stone was flat and felt rough to the touch.

The stone was black whereas the eye's pattern was covered with white lines.

About every two seconds, the eye would blink once and the white lines that portrayed the eyeball would swivel, giving the feeling that this stone was rolling its eyes.

Revert Gu had a special function.

It decomposed Rank two Gu worm to Rank one.

For example, if the Revert Gu was used on Yami's White Jade Gu, the White Jade Gu would again change back to White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu.

This process was called reverse-refining.

Yami glanced at it and immediately lost his interest. He didn't need the Revert Gu.

The surrounding Gu Masters began arguing. Revert Gu couldn't become everyone's focal point like the red steel Relic Gu.

Everyone was very curious on who the red steel Relic Gu went to.

Some people looked for the floor's caravan Gu Master and some people waited at the main desk.

The crowd slowly thinned out, but Yami didn't move away.

"Young master Yami, please come to the third floor. Our lord Itachi would like to have a chat with you." A voice suddenly entered Yami's ears.

Yami wasn't surprised; there were many types of secret sound-transmission Gu worms in this world.

He followed the directions given by the voice and walked to a wall in the third floor.

Branches and leaves stacked together and covered the wooden wall.

Swoosh…..

The branches and leaves automatically parted to the sides and revealed a concealed door.

Yami pushed open the door and saw an exquisite whirling staircase that moved up.

He walked along the stairs and came to a small study room.

In the study room, Itachi was handling some accounts, his hand writing away speedily.

He raised his head when he heard Yami's footsteps, revealing the scar on his face. He gave a gentle smile, "We meet again, little brother Yami."

"Respects to Lord Itachi." Yami clasped his hands and saluted.

"Come, sit here." Itachi pointed at a nearest desk.

After Yami sat, his left hand pushed a bamboo paper on the desk towards Yami.

Yami took a glance and immediately recognized that this bamboo paper held all his quotes that he had made in the recent days. Under every quote was his signature.

He was inwardly happy, it had gone according to his expectations. But on the surface, he wore a doubtful expression as he asked, "I am not sure what Lord Itachi wants to show me?"

Itachi's smile slightly decreased, his eyes flashing as he looked at Yami, "These are your quotes you made along with the quote you gave for the red steel Relic Gu. I will be honest, I am amazed at your business talent. Do you know, every one of your bids was very close to the final sale price."

"Although you only succeeded in buying a Black Boar Gu, a Liquor worm and the red steel Relic Gu, your quotes for other Gu worms only lacked by ten or so primeval stones. Brother, do you have any interest in working for me?" Itachi tried to recruit Yami.

"Here it comes!" Yami laughed inwardly. He had repeatedly made bids these days and had intentionally lost on most of them; his bids differing from the final price by only ten or so primeval stones. He had only successfully won Black Boar Gu, Liquor worm and red steel Relic Gu.

And just like he wished, Itachi was interested in the business talent he showed and took the initiative to recruit him.

However, in fact if Yami wished so, he had almost full guarantee of being able to purchase all the Gu worms.

"This…." Yami hesitated, then shook his head, "I am greatly honored to receive Lord Itachi's kindness, but I don't want to leave the clan."

"Oh, so it's like that." Itachi's gaze flashed, "Brother might have some misunderstandings towards me. A year ago, I indeed doubted you, but after using the Bamboo Gentleman, the suspicions on you have already been removed. Uchiha Sasuke was my brother, I hope you understand what my mood was like then. There is another piece of good news, I have already invited divine investigator Tobirama. There isn't any case which he cannot solve. I believe he will definitely be able to investigate the truth and give justice to you."

"Divine investigator Tobirama…. this is a problem." Yami thought over this name. This was not good news to him.

In this world, there were many magical places and also many amazing methods that could be used to investigate.

When Yami killed Uchiha Sasuke, he had only been at Rank one. Even if he knew a lot of methods, he couldn't use them.

In his memories, Tobirama had a profound cultivation and wouldn't even tolerate a bit of sand in his eyes. He followed the thought of punishing evil and rewarding the right throughout his whole life. He had an extremely rich sense of justice and his thoughts were meticulous. He was very good at finding subtle traces from any clues.

"Divine investigator has a high reputation, I have also heard of him. But when will this lord divine investigator arrive at Elemental Mountain?" Yami put on an anticipating look and directly asked.

"That….." Itachi awkwardly smiled, "Divine investigator is very busy. From his reply, it might only be the year after the next."

Yami immediately felt relieved, he had a lot of time to prepare.

"Brother, I think highly of you. I hope you can carefully consider my proposal." Itachi made attractive offers.

Yami tactfully refused; now was not the best time to leave Elemental Mountain.

If he went to a strange environment without enough strength, he was bound to be bullied and pushed aside. The caravan was also full of unwritten rules on bullying and pushing aside.

"That is really a pity for your talent. How about this, I will give you this token. If there comes a day where you want my help, this token will be the proof that I will always welcome you." Itachi had failed in recruiting Yami, but he didn't feel surprised. He had a deep understanding towards this type of clan's cohesiveness.

If he was to know now that Yami was Uchiha Sasuke's murderer, who knows what his expression would be.

Yami apologised in shame as he received the token handed by Itachi along with the red steel Relic Gu.

He kept the two items close to him and backtracked his way out.

A young female Gu Master was caressing the leaves on the wall, when suddenly she cried out in shock. The branches and leaves suddenly parted and revealed a door.

The door was pushed open from inside and Yami walked out expressionlessly.

"You, you, you!" The young girl widened her eyes and blankly looked at Yami brushing past her.

Among the surrounding Gu Masters who saw this scene; some were familiar with this, some gave a knowing smile and some threw amazed looks.

Yami paid no heed to these gazes and walked down to the second floor. Some Gu Masters were still waiting there, excitedly discussing who the red steel Relic Gu went to.

Some people brazenly made guesses whereas some people gave some little news- "Hana had a mysterious smile when she walked out of the treehouse," - "Torune's face was ashen," - and so on.

And to top it all, some people pledged that so and so had bought the Relic Gu, even making an oath.

Yami went past this bored group of people. No one knew that at this moment, the red steel Relic Gu was so close to them.

When Yami walked out of the treehouse, he bumped into Torune.

His face indeed looked unsightly, and at his side, Shino was asking about the whereabouts of the red steel Relic Gu.

After seeing Yami, Shino snorted and turned his head, intentionally not looking at him. Torune silently nodded his head towards Yami as a greeting.

Yami also nodded his head as a reply, his face carrying a wisp of smile.

The last of the sunshine shone on this young boy's face; he was indeed happy.

With the red steel Relic Gu, his cultivation would instantly advance by a level.

And there was also the token.

A year ago, Yami wanted to build a friendship with Uchiha Sasuke and rely on him to take part in the future large-scale Gu fighting competition, reaping benefits in that period of upheaval.

Unfortunately, life was unpredictable, the final outcome made Yami not know whether to laugh or cry — unexpectedly, he ended up killing Uchiha Sasuke with his own hands.

No matter. Without Uchiha Sasuke, relying on Itachi also worked. This token was equivalent to the admission ticket to the future large-scale Gu fighting competition.


	21. Liberating Poor Monkeys From A Tyrant

**Heroically Liberating Poor Monkeys From Their Tyrant Dictator**

Three days after the caravan left the village.

In the rock forest inside the mountain, filled with dark red light.

Huge stone pillars extended down from the ceiling, resembling long and gigantic tree trunks, forming into a majestic grey coloured stone forest.

Yami was retreating from battle in the rock forest.

Chirpchirpchirp…...

A bunch of stone monkeys stared with their green circular monkey eyes, chasing after Yami relentlessly.

"Moonglow Gu!" Yami called in his mind, his right arm chopping towards the direction of the monkey gang.

Pew.

An eerie blue moonblade as large as a face formed into a crescent and pierced through the air, cutting into the monkey gang.

A jade eye stone monkey was jumping in the air. With no foothold to escape on, it was hit directly by the moonblade.

Before it could scream, in the next moment, its entire body was split into two from head to toe.

It had lost all its remaining life force and was enveloped in a deep aura of death.

In a split second, its lively eyes became a pair of jade pearls. As its body descended, it turned into a rock statue.

Bam.

With a crisp sound, the statue fell onto the ground, smashing into pieces.

The moonblade only dimmed a little, and after killing this stone monkey, its force remained as it rushed for the monkeys behind.

Kachakkk…

After a few cries, five or six stone monkeys were killed on the spot.

Chirpchirpchirp!

Their companions' death fueled the monkey gang's rage as they screamed furiously, their influence doubling, imposingly leaping at Yami.

Yami was unfazed by the danger, his heart remaining as calm as ice. He fought and retreated appropriately. As the stone monkeys neared, he attacked with the moonblade.

The Moonlight Gu in the past, even with the boost from Little Light Gu, each moonblade could only kill one or two monkeys. But now, with one attack the Moonglow Gu could kill five or six stone monkeys.

But there were positive and negative impacts. The Moonglow Gu, to the current Yami, had a huge cost.

Each moonblade used 10% of his red steel primeval essence. Yami only had 44% primeval sea in his aperture.

This meant that he could only use four moonblades in one go.

"If I can successfully fuse the Four Flavors Liquor worm and refine my primeval essence, I would be able to shoot eight moonblades. What a pity. Even though I have the second Liquor worm and three out of the four flavours of wine, I am lacking the final one, I'm stuck at the final step," Yami sighed deeply.

Three moonblades later, his aperture only had 14% light red primeval essence left.

To play safe, he no longer used the moonblade, but activated the White Jade Gu.

The stone monkeys encircled him, the closest monkey jumping to Yami's leg and going into a frenzy. From down to up, it used its monkey head to hit Yami's chin.

Yami snorted, he wanted to use his fist to crush this overconfident monkey.

But suddenly he had a thought and stopped his hand, using his chin to receive the blow instead.

A moment before the point of impact, his chin shone with white jade cold light.

A loud bam sound resounded.

The force of the attack caused Yami's head to tilt back. But that monkey laid on the ground, hugging its head and rolling around the ground screaming in agony.

Without the White Jade Gu, Yami's chin would've been smashed. But now, Yami only felt slightly dizziness with no injuries.

But, even with the White Jade Gu's defense, he still had to withstand the impact of the attack.

Yami took a few steps back before recovering and seeing the scenery clearly before his eyes again.

He had intentionally withstood the monkey's headbutt earlier, it was to have this body get used to such attacks and get used to the slight dizziness.

This way, in the future when he falls into a life-and-death crisis, encountering such an attack, he would be able to recover much more quickly and fight for a survival chance.

Yami was always ruthless with his methods. This ruthlessness was not only towards enemies, but also himself!

He came here to kill stone monkeys almost every three days.

His motive was not just the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance, but also another motive — to utilize the stone monkeys to train his own fighting ability.

A Gu Master's physical stats, physical combat proficiency, aperture primeval essence, battle experience and every Gu worm, they were all elements that affected the overall battle strength.

Only by gathering all these elements tightly together can one exert the greatest fighting strength.

The stone monkey group was like a hammer, and Yami was the ingot that had just came out of the cauldron. With every hit of the hammer, he would become more sturdy, more refined, and more compact.

Fifteen minutes later, this battle ended.

On the ground, there were rock fragments all over the ground, and within those were dozens of jade pearls.

"I killed fourty-one jade eyes stone monkeys this time," Yami counted in his heart, and every time he would collate the battle results. From each battle, he'd reflect upon himself and improve upon what he did not do properly. At the same time, he would feel his own improvement speed.

"In the earlier battle, the Moonglow Gu was the most contributing factor, with three moonblades killing at least seventeen or eighteen stone monkeys. That is about half of the entire battle results, the remaining monkeys were all killed by my close combat.

Moonlight Gu's effect on the stone monkeys was not very obvious. But after advancing to Moonglow Gu, it jumped to being Yami's most powerful attacking method.

Not only was its attack power strong, but more crucially, its efficiency was very high.

Yami utilized three moonblades only in the span of a few breath's time, but when he used his fists and kicks to smash the stone monkeys, that took over ten minutes.

These stone monkeys were very agile and had swift movements.

When the stone monkeys were on the ground, there was no point thinking of hitting them physically. With a jump, they could easily leap away and avoid Yami's attack.

The only weakness was that when they jumped in mid-air, they couldn't change their moving direction. Yami being able to kill them, was due to this weakness.

But this was owing to his rich fighting experience. If it was any other Rank two Gu master, even Torune, Hana or Hashirama, they would not be able to catch the weakness every time like Yami.

His previous life's memories could allow Yami to sensitively catch the opportunities in battle and seize them. He could meticulously use every ounce of his strength. Even though he was Rank two, he could already utilize his fighting strength to the limit of his abilities.

He was definitely not like Naruto, having the Jade Skin Gu, but on the arena after being overwhelmed by Yami's aura, could not even display his supposed strength.

Of course, Yami's cultivation was still very low, and against the monkey group, he could not overwhelm them by brute force.

Every time, he had to fight while retreating.

Luckily, the monkeys did not have high intelligence. They could not adjust their attack patterns, and even after seeing Yami crushing them in mid-air many times, they still leapt towards Yami while attacking.

At the same time, every time they chased Yami, if it was too far from their homes, their longingness to their homes would overwhelm their anger. Many monkeys gave up on the chase due to this.

Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, humans are the spirit of all living things.

Yami is relying on the intelligence of humans to understand the stone monkeys' habits and using the correct fighting methods to get deeper into the rock forest, at this point he was already near the central area of the rock forest.

After many attempts, Yami finally exterminated the monkey group on this rock pillar.

Right now, in front of him, was the final pillar.

It was the largest and thickest rock pillar in this rock forest.

The pillar extended downwards from the ceiling, almost touching the ground. It emitted a majestic aura amidst the silence.

Yami counted the number of rock caves on the pillar, getting an estimation of at least five hundred stone monkeys. This was the largest monkey group he had encountered up till now.

But no matter how many jade eye stone monkeys there were, to Yami, it was just a small bit of trouble, at most he'd have to exert more effort and waste a few more trips.

What caused his gaze to become serious, was the rock cave at the most upper level.

The entrance of this cave was larger than any of the surrounding caves, at least twice as large if not more.

And below it, the caves were tightly cluttered together, forming and resembling a position where they were worshipping and revering.

"It seems that there is a monkey king in this rock cave." Yami frowned.

This was where the problem lay.

As long as a beast group is large, there would be a beast king created. There was a wild boar king in the wild boar group. Obviously there would also be a monkey king in the monkey group.

The threat of a beast king was multiple times higher than a normal wild beast.

The reason was that their bodies had one or two Gu worms inside. These Gu had a mutual partnership with the beast kings, and once the beast king is attacked, they would come out and assist.

"This jade eye stone monkey king should not be very strong, at least weaker than the wild boar king. Otherwise, the surrounding monkey groups would've been under his control already." Yami using his experiences, gauged the monkey king's strength.

Normally, the bigger the beast group, the stronger the beast king; weaker beast kings did not have the ability to rule over a large number of its kind.

According to the beast group's size and classifying of the beast kings, from low to high, they could be classified as hundred beast king, thousand beast king, and myriad beast king.

The wild boar king that sickly snake's group hunted was a thousand beast king, it ruled over a thousand wild boars.

The stone monkey king before Yami was a hundred beast king, it only had several hundred stone monkeys under its rule.

The culprit behind the wolf tide, the lightning crown wolf was a myriad beast king, every single lightning crown wolf ruled over at least ten thousand lightning wolves.

The difference in ability between the three beast kings, were huge.

Thousand beast kings needed three teams to cooperate together to be able to barely kill it. The sickly snake group was able to deal with the wild boar king, mostly due to it being injured beforehand.

A myriad beast king required the clan elders and clan leader to work together to be able to go against it head on.

As for hundred beast king, a regular five man group would be able to handle it.

But for Yami who wanted to deal with this monkey king, he could not borrow outside strength, and could only rely on his own power.

"Rank two initial stage primeval essence is ineffective here, it seems it is time to use the red steel Relic Gu." Yami eyed the rock cave deeply, then left the second secret room and closed the rock door.

If what stands in his way is a thousand beast king like the wild boar king, Yami would retreat without thinking.

But if it is only a hundred beast king, if Yami had Rank two middle stage cultivation, he could give it a shot.

Of course, the results could go either way. Even with middle stage cultivation, he still had roughly 75% chance of failure, his chances of success not even hitting 30%.

The translucent light membrane, faint red primeval sea and the surging waves.

On the sea surface, two fat white Liquor worms were absorbing the water. In the air above the sea, a black ladybug-like Black Boar Gu was shaking its wings and hovering around the red steel Relic Gu.

The pebble like White Jade Gu had sunk to the depths of the sea and was motionless.

Spring Autumn Cicada had concealed itself; it was in a deep slumber to recuperate.

"It is time." Yami willed; the sea waves paused, and a portion of primeval essence surged up and poured towards the red steel Relic Gu.

The red steel Relic Gu immediately shook and flew up, giving off bursts of red rays of light.

It was like the slowly rising sun, its rays of light shining upon the aperture wall.

The rays of light were as hot as fire and as dazzling as a sword.

The Black Boar Gu was soon unable to bear it and fell down to the primeval sea.

The two Liquor worms also sunk down to the depths of the primeval sea.

White Jade Gu was flashing inside the sea.

For Yami to advance to rank two middle stage with normal methods, he could only use the method of grinding; using his light red primeval essence to cleanse the light membrane aperture wall.

But now, red steel Relic Gu gave off majestic red light which replaced the light red primeval essence and poured directly into the aperture wall, giving astonishing results.

Yami could see the whole light membrane thickening at an astonishing pace.

The light on the light membrane condensed into streams of light, gradually changing to a water membrane. The white shimmering rays flowed continuously; becoming clear one moment and dark in the next.

Right now, Yami had advanced to middle stage!

However, the Relic Gu was still bursting with red rays of light.

The rays of light filled the whole aperture; it replaced the primeval essence and continuously injected its essence and foundation into Yami's aperture.

The water membrane accepted it all and the shimmering rays of light on it was like water as it flowed freely.

This continued on for about fifteen minutes.

Red steel Relic Gu had thoroughly exhausted all its energy; its body turned transparent and disappeared in the red light.

The penetrating red rays of light also suddenly dissipated with its disappearance.

The aperture recovered its tranquility once again.

However the water membrane had become much thicker. Using the red steel Relic Gu had saved Yami from wasting a lot of time and effort.

A thread of scarlet red primeval essence appeared in the primeval sea.

This was the rank two middle stage primeval essence. It was more condensed than the light red initial stage primeval essence. It sank to the depths of the primeval sea and lingered around the White Jade Gu.

A red steel Relic Gu could directly strengthen the foundation of the aperture. To a Gu Master, this meant advancing by a small realm.

This type of Gu worm was naturally better if used early.

To a Gu Master, higher cultivation meant stronger fighting force, better survival rate, more mission completions and also more primeval stones earnings. It had a great influence on every aspect.

After reaching the middle stage, Yami took several primeval stones and started recovering his primeval essence. He stopped only after the 44% percent primeval sea in his aperture had completely filled with middle stage scarlet primeval essence.

Half an hour later, he once again stepped into the stone forest, heading towards the central area.

He stepped into the warning zones of the monkey groups; immediately, furious jade eye stone monkeys came out of the stone pillars.

They screeched and pounced upon Yami.

Yami's expression didn't change, most of his attention was on that cave at the highest layer of the stone pillar.

When encountering a common jade eye stone monkey, there was no need to be nervous as long as you weren't surrounded by them. The main problem was the stone monkey king.

What Gu worms resided on it? Yami didn't know.

Yami slowly retreated while cautiously observing, but the stone monkey king didn't appear.

Yami was baffled, "Is there no monkey king in this monkey group? If there was a monkey king, then it would no doubt be the first to come out if someone infringed on its territory. Hold it, maybe it has already come out!"

Just as he thought of this, the sleeping Spring Autumn Cicada in his aperture suddenly floated into appearance. Its body was trembling as it gave a weak startled cry that resonated only within Yami's mind.

The vital Gu's warning!

This appeared only when the vital Gu felt there was an intense threat against the Gu Master's life.

In that split second, Yami's hairs stood up. Without thinking twice, he directly used the White Jade Gu.

A layer of bright white jade light covered his whole body.

In the next instant, the stone monkey king - who was three times bigger than a normal stone monkey - suddenly appeared on the left side of Yami and fiercely struck out with its sharp claws at Yami's left shoulder.

Bang.

The stone monkey king's attack was blocked by the White Jade Gu's defense; its attack failed.

In the instant Yami received this attack, the White Jade Gu in his aperture suddenly lit up and consumed five percent of the scarlet primeval essence.

If it was when Yami was at the initial stage, ten percent of light red primeval essence would have been used up.

From this, one could see how sinister and vicious the stone monkey king's sneak attack was.

Despite Yami having a calm character, he couldn't help breaking out in cold sweat at this moment. If it were not for him sharpening himself these days and polishing his condition to a peak combat state, he might have really been hit by the stone monkey king's attack.

Had his reaction been just a bit late, his left shoulder would have become crippled and unusable. Yami would then end up miserable just like Choza not long ago.

"There is actually a wild concealing-type Gu worm residing in this stone monkey king!" Yami hurriedly retreated, he had no way to detect a concealing Gu worm and ended up in disadvantage all of a sudden.

The stone monkey king seemed to be more cunning than normal stone monkeys. After its attack missed, it again hid itself away.

This undoubtedly was a huge mental pressure on Yami.

He used the White Jade Gu to form a defense around his whole body. Such a method used primeval essence every moment and it was impossible for him to maintain this defense.

Even when he had fought with the stone monkey troops before, he would only use the White Jade Gu at the crucial moment.

If he continued to maintain this state, then his primeval essence would completely dissipate not long after.

Over five hundred stone monkeys encircled Yami aggressively.

Yami used his greatest speed to retreat and pull some distance.

Some stone monkey's momentum became weaker, whereas some stomped on the ground and began to head back to their homes.

"Chirp!" Right at this moment, the jade eye stone monkey king appeared and commanded in a loud voice.

"Chirp chirp!" The stone monkey groups immediately responded; their confusion and hesitation disappeared and again started their chase after Yami.

Over five hundred jade eye stone monkeys were persistently chasing after him, but Yami didn't panic; his lips revealing a cold smile on the contrary.

This accident was already in his expectations.

He had chosen the easiest route towards the central area of the stone forest, opening up a passage. In the surroundings of the passage were large numbers of stone monkey groups.

Yami was very familiar with this passage.

However, with the low intelligence of these stone monkeys, how could they know? Under the supervision of the stone monkey king, they stormed through the stone forest, infringing on other monkey groups' warning zones and resulting in counterattacks from the other monkey groups.

The stone forest was in a great chaos!

Countless jade eye stone monkeys stood at their place, starting a massacre to defend their homes.

In ten or more years, the stone monkey king might even advance to become a thousand beast king and completely unify this stone forest. But now, it was only a hundred beast king and didn't have the ability to control so many stone monkeys.

The different groups of stone monkeys fell into a chaotic battle with each other.

For a moment, all Yami could hear was the screeching and screaming sounds of the stone monkeys.

Those five hundred stone monkeys that were chasing him were quickly entangled with the other stone monkey groups. But the stone monkey king still persisted on chasing after Yami.

Yami was attacking and retreating. In this period of time, he suffered many sneak attacks from the stone monkey king and every attack would consume great amounts of his primeval essence. Luckily, he had advanced to middle stage before this. Otherwise, with the initial stage primeval essence, he wouldn't have been to handle this consumption.

Yami landed in absolute disadvantage; he had not found any weakness in the stone monkey king.

The only chance to attack lay in the moment the stone monkey king was about to attack. But even if Yami was able to react, he had no time to even make an attacking movement.

The stone monkey king possessed a concealment-type gu worm and firmly held the initiative. It could attack Yami whenever it wanted to attack. Even if Yami injured it, it could use the concealment-type gu worm to safely escape; it was in an invincible position.

"Without a stealth-removal Gu worm, the probability to win this battle is extremely low! If I had a wide area attacking method, maybe I could give it a try. But Moonglow Gu...I will only be able to hit this stone monkey king if I am lucky, but the probability is too low."

Yami clearly understood the battle situation and immediately retreated.

However, the stone monkey king seemed to be determined to kill him.

Yami retreated to about a hundred meters from the rock door when he suddenly stopped.

"I only have a bit over 10% of my primeval essence remaining. It won't be enough to cover this hundred meters of distance. And even if I am able to enter the second secret room and close the rock door, this stone monkey king might just break the door!"

Yami had thought that the stone monkey king would give up after chasing him for such a long period of time. Yet who could have thought that it still persisted on chasing him.

He was already out of the stone forest now and around him was a patch of empty ground.

Countless stone monkeys were fighting chaotically in the stone forest, causing an uproar. Their noisy sounds kept on echoing within this empty space.

Yami didn't budge; his battle intuition told him that the stone monkey king was hiding somewhere, waiting for him to show a gap before making a fatal attack.

Yami knew he had already fallen into an impasse.

Normal Rank two Gu Masters would have already fallen apart from this fear, unable to endure this formless pressure.

But Yami was still calm.

This situation was also within his expectations, though its probability was very low. According to logic, the stone monkey king should also possess the stone monkey's habits and be reluctant to leave its home. But for some reason, this stone monkey king was hell bent on chasing and killing Yami.

"If you choose to take a risk, you need to be willing to risk your life!" Yami's eyes flashed with a cold light; he then took off his upper garment.

"11% primeval essence, this means two moonblades or sustain the monkey king's sneak attack twice. Relying solely on the Moonglow Gu or White Jade Gu will not do. My only chance is the instant where the monkey king attacks me, I have to grasp the opportunity and shoot the moonblade, instantly killing it!" Yami's thoughts sparked like flint, thinking of the most optimum strategy.

Stone monkeys did not have outstanding defense, and since the monkey king chose a sneak attack approach, it revealed that defense was its weakness.

One moonblade could slaughter five or six jade eye stone monkeys. Even if it couldn't kill the monkey king, it can still heavily injure it.

But do not think that this is easy; getting to this point is difficult, even if a group of Gu Masters came, without a stealth removal type Gu they would still lose their lives.

"This monkey is cunning, choosing not to attack, is it waiting for my primeval essence to be used up? Nevermind, I shall trust the Spring Autumn Cicada once and bet on this chance!" Yami instantly decided, his eyes shining with a cold and ruthless light.

He stood on the spot, both hands hanging beside him, holding the collar of his shirt. At the same time, he closed his eyes, only leaving a slit of visibility. What is more shocking is that he removed the defense of the White Jade Gu.

The expenditure of the primeval essence in his aperture, finally stopped. At the same time, he was no longer under the protection of the white jade light.

The rock forest continued to reverb with the cries and anguish of the monkeys, but Yami could feel that these noises were getting closer and closer to himself.

A type of calmness enveloped his heart and mind.

He was silently waiting for the stone monkey king's attack.

When it attacks, that is when the match is decided!

Waiting...

Waiting...

Suddenly, the Spring Autumn Cicada vibrated in the aperture.

Pew!

The very next moment, Yami heard an explosion and the stone monkey king appeared on his left!

"White Jade Gu!" Yami's eyes shone with brilliance as the white jade light covered his entire body.

Bam.

The stone monkey king hit Yami's body with a strong force, almost causing him to topple, his primeval essence dropping by 5%, only left with the other half!

Seeing that his attack did not finish Yami off, the stone monkey king tried to escape!

Yami had no time to counterattack, but it was enough for him to flick his upper shirt.

Suddenly, he felt that there was someone on his upper shirt, tugging towards the outside direction.

The shirt was not made of steel, and to prevent it from tearing, Yami let go of both hands, seeing the floating shirt fly around the place at a shocking speed.

"Now!" Yami's eyes shone with cold light as the battle's outcome would be decided with this moonblade, his heart cold and calm as ice.

The monkey king was afterall a wild beast, and after having its face covered by a shirt, it flew into a panic.

It emitted a shrill scream, calling its stone monkeys to help. At the same time the shirt continued to move around, changing directions and going all over the place.

An eerie blue moonblade flew out and hit the stone monkey king.

The monkey king cried in pain as its camouflage was exposed.

Its appearance was the same as a normal stone monkey, but its body size was three times bigger, and at the same time its eyes shone with a bloody red light.

A long and deep wound stretched from its chest to its left leg, blood continuing to pour from it.

Although not dead, it had already suffered a heavy injury, and the aura of death permeated its entire body. It covered its wound in shock, going invisible again.

Yami's upper shirt was cut open by his moonblade, falling onto the ground. But the blood traces exposed the monkey king, and it hurriedly retreated, no longer having the idea of killing Yami. With such a grave injury, if it did not deal with it, it would lose its life.

At this time, Yami also retreated to the rock door. After activating the moonblade, his aperture only had a little bit of primeval essence left, and his battle strength dropped drastically.

Although it looked like a draw, Yami had won.

The monkey king's injury could not be recovered shortly. The more blood it lost, the weaker it felt.

But Yami could use the primeval stones to recover his primeval essence and recover his battle strength.

Even without a stealth removal type Gu, nor a wide area attack method, with his rich fighting experience and the will of steel in the face of danger, Yami could beat the strong in a weaker state.

"Monkey, fox, snake, these wild beasts have extraordinary intelligence compared to ordinary wild beasts, and are more cunning. Because of this, they lack the wild courage and often retreat while injured. If it were a wild boar or bull, they would go into a frenzy while injured. This monkey king seems to only have one Gu worm. Although the Gu worm could grant stealth, it cannot hide blood traces, and if my guess is correct, it should be the Rank one stealth rock Gu."

Yami pondered in his heart, and relying on his memories, the monkey king had no more secrets in front of him.

"The results has been decided." Yami returned to the rock room, closing the door and replenishing his primeval essence.

A moment later, his primeval essence went back to its peak state, and Yami opened the rock door, being in the rock forest once again.

The rock forest was still a mess, but better than before.

"After this chaos, the entire rock forest's forces will be reset. The stone monkeys will relocate and regroup, and the roaming and isolated stone monkeys form into new monkey gangs. The path that I painstakingly created would thus vanish."

Yami's heart sank, he needed to kill the stone monkey king before this path is completely gone.

If not, opening this path would expend much of his time again, and by the time he got to the center again, the monkey king would've completely healed.

He shall chase after and annihilate lingering enemies with bravery, rather than be easily contented with fame and compliments like Xiang Yu.

Yami trailed along the opened path, invading the rock forest. The stone monkeys who appeared in his way were all exterminated.

Fifteen minutes later, he appeared at the central pillar once again.

The stone monkey king laid on the ground; it had turned into a statue and was already dead.

A jade eye stone monkey was stepping on its corpse, screaming about.

Replacing the title of king, with the death of the former king, a new king takes its place. Regardless of the beast group or human society, this was the cruel elimination system.

"Saved some effort of mine." Yami slowly got closer.

At this moment, a Gu worm slowly floated from the corpse of the stone monkey king, flying towards the new king.

Moonglow Gu!

Yami shot out a moonblade just in time, chasing away the new stone monkey king, then walking up and grabbing the Gu worm.

This Gu looked ordinary like a grey rock, with an uneven surface that was not even squarish nor spherical. If this Gu was thrown on the road, no one would notice it based on appearance.

But in reality, it was the essence of a rock, a natural Gu nurtured by Mother Nature.

It seemed like an inanimate object, a rock. But in fact, it was the real deal, a living being with its own consciousness and thought.

As Yami predicted, it was the Stealth Rock Gu.

Grabbed by Yami, it desperately struggled, trying to be free of his demonic grasp.

Spring Autumn Cicada.

Yami called in his mind, and the Spring Autumn Cicada appeared in his aperture, leaking a trace of its aura.

The Stealth Rock Gu instantly went dead, not daring to struggle, like a mouse meeting a cat.

Yami's red primeval essence activated and instantly refined it.

Another Gu in the bag!

The Stealth Rock Gu was kept in the aperture and sunk to the bottom of the primeval sea, side by side with the White Jade Gu.

The stone monkey watched helplessly at the side, and on seeing Yami keep the Stealth Rock Gu into his body, it frantically jumped about, screaming incoherently.

It had just gotten the new position, so not many monkeys obeyed it.

With another moonblade, Yami took a few more monkey lives. Those that gathered around their new king instantly dispersed.

The new stone monkey king gnawed its teeth at Yami.

"Scram." Yami stared at it, saying a word, with his expression cold as ice.

The monkey king shuddered, feeling the intense killing intent from Yami. It stared at Yami blankly before gulping and turning around to escape, showing its superior intelligence compared to wild beasts.

Yami chased these stone monkeys away and ignored them, getting to the bottom of the rock pillar as soon as he could.

As he got close, he found a cave below the rock pillar.

The cave was not big, and some rock stairs extended downwards into the darkness.

Yami had no investigative Gu worm, so he could not tell what was down there.

With the situation unclear, Yami did not enter the cavern and walk down the stairs. He had barged his way in earlier, and his body condition was not at its prime. Furthermore, the chaos in the rock forest was disappearing and was stabilizing.

He had spent much effort and time to open the path, but many stone monkeys were starting to reside in the pillars along the way.

"Haste brings no success. Now that I have found the inheritance clue, I have achieved my goal. It is time to return." Yami controlled the urge to investigate, and returned via the same route.

On the way, the pressure intensified but eventually, he endured the pressure as he was chased by hundreds of monkeys, tragically rushing out of the rock forest.


	22. Heroically Saving His Clan From Disaster

**Heroically Saving His Clan From Disaster**

Time passed quickly, and summer replaced spring.

Unknowingly it was the scorching summer again already.

Yami spent every second of his time cultivating diligently. Using the red steel Relic Gu, he instantly caught up to Naruto's cultivating speed.

He did not have a special Gu that could hide his middle stage aura. After killing the monkey king and obtaining the Stealth Rock Gu, a day later, his cultivation level was exposed.

The clansmen only knew then that he was the one who obtained the red steel Relic Gu; it was actually Yami!

At the same time, he intentionally revealed the Black Boar Gu.

Yami sold such a huge amount of assets to get the Black Boar Gu and red steel Relic Gu. Many people could not understand his thoughts, calling him a 'fool', 'dumbass', 'maniac' and 'short-sighted', as they became his new nicknames.

With a rise in attention, Yami had to reduce the number of times he ventured into the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.

He continued to nurture his aperture as he steadily moved towards Rank two upper stage, while collecting the ingredients to fuse the Liquor worm as well as the Stealth Rock Gu. At the same time, he used the vitality leaf to earn primeval stones, sustaining his cultivation.

July, the start of autumn.

At the foot of the mountain near the village, a wild Rank five Gu suddenly appeared, causing a huge tremor at Konoha Village!

A solemn and serious atmosphere filled the conference hall.

A group of elders silently sat on their seats; their faces were either indifferent, gloomy or serious.

Clan head Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting on the main seat, his gaze also filled with unconcealed worry, "Three days ago, a River Swallowing Toad appeared near the village by the foot of the mountain. This toad flowed along with the Huang Long River and accidentally reached here. Right now, it is blocking up a river channel and sleeping there. If we ignore it, the village will constantly be in danger. So I would like to ask the elders if you have any good ideas to drive this toad away?"

The elders looked at each other; for a moment, no one spoke.

River Swallowing Toad was a Rank five Gu; it had an enormous might and could spit out a river. If this was not handled properly and it was provoked, over half of the Elemental Mountain could be submerged with water and the whole village would be destroyed.

After a long silence, Shibi Aburame spoke, "The situation is grave, and we need to resolve this as quickly as possible. If this news gets leaked, we can't say for sure if those with evil intentions might not secretly go and intentionally provoke this River Swallowing Toad to entrap our Konoha clan."

"Elder Shibi is right." Gaku Inuzuka nodded in agreement. Although he and Shibi Aburame were political enemies, but at such a critical time for the village, he let go of his past prejudices.

He continued speaking after a moment, "There is another more serious problem. If the River Swallowing Toad floods the Elemental Mountain, the wolf lairs will be submerged and for their survival, the wolf hordes will move up the mountain. At that time, the wolf tide will break out before its time. And we will have to fight with countless wild beasts to fight for the space at the top."

The elders' complexion turned pale when they heard this.

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with heavy tone, "Everyone, don't forget the foundation of our village. The first generation ancestor set up the village in this place because of the underground spirit spring. If Elemental Mountain gets flooded, this spirit spring might also be destroyed."

"What should we do?"

"Sigh….even if we withstand the beast tides and survive at the mountaintop. After the flood subsides, the spirit spring will have disappeared, many beasts will have died, our surroundings will turn to a wasteland and we will be lacking cultivation resources."

"If we are to die, then why not ask help from Iwa and Kiri villages? We are three boats tied with one rope, I don't believe they won't help!"

The elders whispered to one another with panic hidden inside. Some had already started thinking of asking for reinforcements.

"It is too premature to ask for help now," Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and denied this idea immediately. "It is not the most challenging period now. When the first generation ancestor had just established the village, a Rank five Blood River Python attacked the village, but the first generation clan head killed it. Compared to the Blood River Python, the River Swallowing Toad is just so much more adorable."

"It has a warm temperament and is harmless to ordinary people. Only if it senses the aura of other Gu will it be alert. If it receives serious injuries, it will be angered and spit out a river. By chance, I heard the previous clan head talk of a rumor about the River Swallowing Toad…."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's composed and calm voice resounded within the conference hall.

The group of elders listened attentively; their nervous and panicked expressions eased up.

"He is really worthy of being the clan head. He calmed their hearts with just his words." Tsunade sensed the change in the atmosphere. She gave a profound look at Hiruzen Sarutobi and praised him inwardly.

"If we follow what clan head said just now, chasing away the River Swallowing Toad wouldn't be a difficult thing," An elder spoke.

"We can't say that." Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, "These are only rumors, I haven't personally seen it or even put it to use. The important thing is that we can't be careless. I suggest we first send a group of Gu Masters to test it."

All the elders agreed.

Shibi Aburame spoke, "Then how about I send a member of my Aburame family. If he can't do it, then no one among our clan might be able to do it."

Everyone knew who Shibi was speaking of, and they approved of it one after another.

Clan head Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, "Since it is so, then we shall just assign it to the Torune group."

It was early autumn, the weather was gradually turning cool.

On a table by the window of the tavern, Yami was sitting alone, calmly tasting some wine.

The tavern shopkeeper was standing beside him, bowing his head.

"Shopkeeper, is there progress on the matter regarding bitter shell wine that I asked you to look into a few days ago?" Yami asked.

Yami was lacking a bitter wine for the liquor worm fusion.

However, bitter wines were difficult to find and because of the matter regarding the red steel Relic Gu, people had been focusing on him. Wherever he went, people would point him out. Thus, it was not easy to make inquiries of bitter wines.

The disturbance had settled down only recently, and maybe because extreme sorrow turns into joy, Yami had accidentally found a clue regarding the bitter wine.

The old shopkeeper promptly replied, "Young master, the bitter shell wine you wanted me to look into, someone had drunk it in Kiri Village. The raw material of this wine is a type of conch found in deep type of conch is completely black, with circles of white lines on its shell resembling a tree's growth rings. We call it a bitter shell. Normal conches can form pearls. The bitter shell swallows the sands and stones in the water, dissolving them and forming bitter water instead. Someone pried open its shell and obtained this bitter water, using it to brew wine, making the bitter shell wine. Its taste is very unique; bitter and fragrant."

Yami slightly raised his brows upon hearing this, "Does that mean Kiri Village has this bitter shell wine?"

The shopkeeper hurriedly bent down, "I don't dare to guarantee it, I have only heard people talking about it occasionally. However, the truth is Kiri Village is famous for its white grain liquid. This wine along with our clan's green bamboo wine and Iwa Village's bear gall wine are called the three wines of Elemental. Bitter Shell wine... I think even if the Kiri Village possesses it, there wouldn't be much."

"Even if there is little, I have to find it," Yami said in his mind.

But this matter was troublesome; Kiri Village had been gradually showing signs of coming to emergence these years, starting to shake the Konoha Village's position as the overlord.

If Yami wanted to enter the Kiri Village without permission, the patrolling Kiri Village's Gu Masters might kill him before he even sees the village gate.

Even if it was so, Yami still wanted to attempt it. After all, getting this bitter shell wine was more reasonable that the green Ai wine that was immeasurably far away.

As he broke away from his contemplations, Yami found that the old shopkeeper was still standing beside him. He waved his hand, "Alright, you can leave, there is nothing for you here."

The old man didn't leave, his face revealed hesitation, not speaking out what he was about to say.

He finally summoned his courage, "Young master, could you please take back this tavern again? All the waiters and I want to work for you. You don't know that when the old landlord came back, he deducted most of our wages. With such little primeval stones each month, it is really difficult for us to support our families."

Yami shook his head, his face without any expression, "I have already sold this tavern to him. I can't take it back according to the contract. Moreover, I don't want to engage in this tavern business. You can leave now."

"But, young landlord….." The old man still didn't move.

Yami frowned in annoyance, "Remember, I am no longer your landlord!"

He had previously increased their salaries, only to arouse their passion for their work. It was all for himself. However, these people mistook it for his tolerance and wanted to push their luck.

Right now, by selling the vitality leaves, he could only fulfill his own needs. On top of that, he was feeling vexed due to the bitter wine. So why would he take back the tavern for these people?

"But young landlord, we really can't keep on living like this! Please show mercy and have pity on us." The shopkeeper knelt on the ground and implored.

The sound immediately attracted the surrounding guests.

Yami laughed coldly. He picked up a wine jar from the table and smashed it on the shopkeeper's head.

Kachak.

The jar shattered; the wine splashed all around and blood flowed from the old man's head.

"Did you think I won't dare to kill you? You tactless fool, get lost." Cold light flashed out from Yami's eyes.

The old shopkeeper's whole body trembled from this killing intent; he was startled and hurriedly left.

No matter which world, there will always be a group of weak people who will brazenly and indiscreetly ask charity from the strong. As if helping them was the manner of the strong and not helping them was wrong.

The weak should have the manners of the weak; they should either resign to their fate and act like slaves or try hard while keeping a low profile.

The strong helped the weak only as a charity when they were in a good mood.

The weak refuse to work hard, shamelessly begging from the strong, and even demanding definite results, acting like a leech; they deserve getting rejected.

People who were content with being weak, who don't put their own effort and only think of begging from the strong, simply aren't deserving of sympathy.

"Shopkeeper..."

"Quick, bandage the wounds."

The waiters hurriedly surrounded the old man whose face was covered with blood.

The old shopkeeper was only a mortal, it wouldn't be a problem even if he was killed on the spot.

Such an ending took away the interest of the surrounding guests; they turned back and continued with their discussions.

"Do you know? Something big happened recently!"

"Are you talking about that River Swallowing Toad? Right now, who wouldn't know of this?"

"This is a Rank five Gu, if it isn't dealt properly, the village might fall into crisis!"

"It is said that this River Swallowing Toad's food is water. When it is hungry, it opens up its large mouth and directly sucks a river in!"

"If it is angered, it can release the water into the Elemental Mountain, its power is extremely horrifying. We might die!"

"Then what should we do?"

"Sigh, we just have to see how the clan's higher-ups will deal with it. After all, we can't escape, where can we escape to?"

Bewilderment and confusion pervaded the air in the tavern.

"River Swallowing Toad..." Yami inwardly smiled when he heard this.

Fear was infectious, it increased the more it is spread.

Actually, the River Swallowing Toad was very gentle and was not dreadful. Its natural disposition was to sleep and people would often see it flowing with the river. The toad would lie down on the water surface with their white bellies facing up, and sleep soundly.

When it wakes up, it would swallow the river water up to its fill and return back to sleep. They had no interest towards fighting and killing; if they meet an enemy, their first reaction would be to flee. Only if they fall into an impasse and couldn't escape will they make fierce counterattacks.

They were very powerful and could release torrential river from their mouths, engulfing the lands instantly and turning them to marsh.

"This River Swallowing Toad probably fell asleep, then drifted along the Huang Long river and accidentally entered a tributary, reaching the foot of the Elemental Mountain." Yami guessed the truth.

It is said that every single River Swallowing Toad's stomach carries a river.

Yami did not use the River Swallowing Toad in his previous life, but he has a strong impression of this Gu, because of one person.

A normal person, a family servant.

Around two hundred years later in his previous life, a very special Gu Master will appear— Gamamaru.

His existence shocked numerous Gu Masters, and his story would be spread around by the mortals.

Once he appeared, he became a legend.

His entire success was attributed to a River Swallowing Toad.

Gamamaru was a mere family servant, single-handedly taking care of a fishery for his master. One day, a River Swallowing Toad arrived at the coast with its belly side up, lying in the water, asleep the entire time.

Gamamaru was initially scared and shocked, but slowly, he felt that this toad was dead, why was it not moving at all?

The "toad corpse" blocked the upflow of the river water, and this caused many problems for Gamamaru who was taking care of the fishery.

Gamamaru tried many different methods and ways to move this "toad corpse" away. But he was just a mere mortal, how could he move something as heavy as the River Swallowing Toad?

His master was stingy and cruel, and if he could not meet the monthly quota, his head will be decapitated. Gamamaru did not dare to report it, as someone not too long ago did not manage to fulfill his quota and reported it with a proper reason, but ended up getting killed on the spot.

Seeing that the due date was getting closer, and the corpse still remained there blocking the water, it greatly affected his revenue. Gradually, Gamamaru became more frightened, and his temper became more abusive and frustrated.

Although he knew that he could not move this corpse away, he would still go to it everyday, to punch and kick the "toad corpse", crying and making a din. Letting go of all the fear and anger he had in the face of death.

But one day, the River Swallowing Toad woke up, and with its half-opened eyes, stared at Gamamaru.

Gamamaru's legs went soft from the shock.

The River Swallowing Toad was half asleep and half awake, but it still laid there like it was a "corpse". After some time, Gamamaru regained his composure.

He was not afraid, he was going to die anyway, what is there to be afraid of?

He climbed to the top of the River Swallowing Toad's belly, and lied down face up. Staring at the sky, "Toad, oh toad. You are the same as me, with only one last breath left in you, you're about to die too huh?"

He did not know about the characteristics of the River Swallowing Toad. Looking at its half dead state, he thought that it was going to die. After saying so, Gamamaru's face flooded with tears.

The River Swallowing Toad squinted its eyes, listening to Gamamaru's words while staring at the sky.

For the next few days, he continued to lie on the River Swallowing Toad's white and soft belly, crying while talking, complaining about the pain and the repressed feelings of a mortal.

Finally, the deadline was here. The person-in-charge came down from the village to the fishery to collect the fish.

Where could Gamamaru find fish to meet the quota? Left with no choice, he could only give an excuse that he needed to do some packing, and ran to the River Swallowing Toad to bid farewell.

He patted the River Swallowing Toad's belly, "Old toad, to think that I'm going to die first. It must be affinity that led to me knowing you. I hope that in your remaining days, you will have a better life."

At this moment, the River Swallowing Toad started move.

Gamamaru was taken aback. Seeing that the River Swallowing Toad's actions were becoming larger, he quickly jumped off.

Plop!

The River Swallowing Toad turned around, with its belly side down and back facing upwards. It had fully woken up.

Gamamaru's body was drenched, and on having seen this scene he became angry and stomped his foot, "Old toad, oh old toad, so you can still move? Ahhhh, you have caused my death, if you had moved a few days ago, I would not have to die!"

The River Swallowing Toad ignored his words, it had just woken up and felt hungry.

Half of its body was submerged into the water as it opened its mouth, starting to suck in the river water in order to sate its hunger.

Seeing this, Gamamaru was dumbfounded. He shockingly saw that the water level was receding, dropping at an observable pace, rapidly falling.

Large amounts of river water were swallowed into the toad's belly, but its belly did not even expand a bit, it was almost like a bottomless hole.

A moment later, the River Swallowing Toad stopped its meal. The river water had already dropped to an extreme level, and the bedrock was exposed. If a person stood in the river, the water would only reach their knees.

Gamamaru stood at the coast, at a lost for words.

The River Swallowing Toad glanced at him and suddenly burped. Its stomach expanded and contracted, its mouth opening wide as it and it vomited out a large amount of seafood.

Fish, prawn, turtle, crab, snails, eels, everything!

The River Swallowing Toad only ate water as its food, but did not consume these seafood, hence it vomited all of them out.

At this point, it seems like it was raining seafood.

In the blink of an eye, the seafood gathered into a mountain, and Gamamaru upon seeing this, was overwhelming exhilarated. He screamed loudly, "I'm saved, I'm saved! These seafood is enough for me to hand up for three months. Old toad, oh old toad, it is all thanks to you!"

He packaged those seafood, and quickly handed them to the person-in-charge.

The person-in-charge was both shocked and suspicious, how could there be so much? He quickly reported it, and the Gu Masters in the village also found out that the water level had changed drastically.

After investigating, they found out about the River Swallowing Toad's existence.

It was a Rank five Gu!

The village fell into a panic and they formed into large groups, trying to expel the River Swallowing Toad.

Gamamaru did not want the River Swallowing Toad to be harmed; these days he had treated the River Swallowing Toad as his only friend.

He kneeled in front of the Gu Masters and pleaded hysterically. But why would Gu Masters care about a mere mortal? They kicked him aside and were about to murder him.

But at this moment, the River Swallowing Toad arrived.

Nobody knew if it had treated Gamamaru as its friend, or felt that being with Gamamaru was interesting and could cure boredom.

The point is, it struck.

It carried Gamamaru and vomited out a stream of river water that engulfed the whole village and drowned half the hill.

This battle startled the entire southern continent!

Thereafter, Gamamaru's name spread throughout the one hundred thousand mountains. With the River Swallowing Toad staying by his side, it meant that he owned a Rank five Gu worm!

After all, even a Rank five Gu Master, might not have a Rank five Gu worm.

Rank five Gu Masters were rare, even in the Konoha clan's history, there were only two people — the first generation clan leader and the fourth generation clan leader.

But he Gamamaru did not have an awakened aperture, yet as a mere mortal he had a River Swallowing Toad.

His existence stunned the entire Gu Master world.

After that, Gamamaru built a hamlet at the village's location. He was endearing to people and sympathized with mortals, aspiring to reach equality among all people. It was a village without oppression.

He became a flag, and the mortals in the surrounding villages came to him and wanted to depend on him.

But eventually, he was still assassinated.

With just a River Swallowing Toad, it could not make him truly powerful. He was not a Gu Master after all, and after his death, the River Swallowing Toad left.

Gu Masters razed his hamlet to the grounds, and slaughtered the mortals who dared to oppose them.

With his mortal self, Gamamaru challenged the entire system of society, and that brought forth the rage of the Gu Masters.

"I wonder if Gamamaru will still appear this time after my influence." After his recollection, Yami laughed.

But Torune could not laugh.

His face was grim as he returned.

The villagers at the mountain foot were waiting for the Gu Masters to deal with this problem.

But the great Torune Aburame arrived and still could not solve the issue. This caused the villagers to panic, and the panic spread and reached a high point.

They dragged their families, brought big and small bags, and rushed up to the village. They naturally did not dare to step inside, thus more and more villagers kneeled outside the village's doors, begging the Gu Masters to have mercy and let them in.

In the hall.

"What? These lowly commoners dare to surround the main gate. Atrocious, they are getting more and more daring, kill, kill them all!" The punishment hall clan elder screamed.

Medicine hall's Tsunade's face was also grim, "Although these lowly commoners deserve death, killing a few is enough to threaten the rest and chase the group away, but it would be like a joke for the other villages to observe."

Shibi Aburame said, "The important thing now is not this. If even Torune cannot wake this River Swallowing Toad, who else in our clan can? It seems we have to get reinforcements, the Iwa Clan specializes in strength." He sighed and continued, "for the safety of the clan, we should get them to do it. Even if we have to pay a price, it is worth it."

These words got the consent of the other clan elders, and even clan leader Hiruzen Sarutobi was moved.

"Clan leader and the other clan elders, this junior has something to report." Torune Aburame had been standing in the hall, listening to the clan elders, but suddenly he bowed and said spoke.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, he had an appreciative attitude towards Torune Aburame, "Torune, if you have any ideas, you might as well say it."

Torune asked instead, "Elders, to push this River Swallowing Toad awake, does it really need one person's strength?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "According to the previous clan leader's words, the River Swallowing Toad has a mild temper and loves to sleep. Even if it is awakened by someone pushing it, it would not rage. Thus, we asked you who has the greatest strength in the village to wake it. But it ended in failure."

Torune said, "Then can clan leader grant me a Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu? With one bull's strength and my inborn strength, I would be able to push this River Swallowing Toad awake."

"You definitely cannot use a Gu worm's strength." Just as Torune finished speaking, a clan elder denied his request, "A Gu worm's aura will invite the vigilance of the River Swallowing Toad. If this causes it to feel threatened and rampage about, who would face the consequences?"

"That's right." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, "By using a Gu worm, even if we wake up the toad, we cannot get its approval. It has to be a single person, using his own strength to wake it and get its approval."

Gu is the spirit of heaven and earth, but it behaved more like wild beasts. Wild beasts have their territories, and roaming wild beasts when encountering the king of a territory, would have a battle. The victorious takes the territory and the loser roams.

The formation of a beast tide is also based on this wild beast instinct. Strong beast groups will invade and conquer neighbouring land. Weaker groups would be exiled and this forms the beast tide.

To chase the River Swallowing Toad away, they have to abide to its habits.

River Swallowing Toad has a mild temperament, not enjoying conflict, and as long as the territory's "beast king" can be recognised, it would leave.

Thus, using Gu worms is a no-no, the Gu worm's aura will be sensed and cause the River Swallowing Toad to take unpredictable actions. Using everyone's strength was not possible too. Once there are many people, even if it is moved, the toad would not leave.

That is because everyone acting together was not fair, and would not be recognised by it.

Thus, the clan leader got Torune to go ahead, as he had the greatest strength in the village.

"So that's it, I understand." Torune finally understood the situation, he cupped his fists, "In that case, I will recommend someone to the clan elders, he has greater strength than me."

"Oh, who?"

"There's such a person, why did we not know?"

"Torune, don't keep us waiting, quickly say it!"

"This person, is Yami Uzumaki." Torune said a name.

"Yami Uzumaki?" The elders couldn't help but look at each other upon hearing this name.

They clearly recognized this name. In fact, from the beginning, Yami Uzumaki's name would occasionally reach their ears.

Especially after the Awakening Ceremony, when his Gu Master cultivation started, this lad had been getting restless; he frequently caused some disturbances that attracted attention.

"Ah, I remember him. Isn't this kid the one who sold his family assets and bought a red steel Relic Gu?" An elder came to realization.

Shibi Aburame and Gaku Inuzuka's faces turned ugly.

If Torune or Hana had used the red steel Relic Gu, they could ascend to rank two peak stage and be equal to Hashirama.

This would reflect towards the higher-ups — whether it was the Inuzuka faction or Aburame faction who got the relic gu, it would be a political victory. But to think that this prodigal kid had ruined it all!

"Returning to the main topic, this kid is truly strong. At the arena previously, he used his bare fists to shatter Jade Skin Gu's defence and pummeled Naruto down, achieving the championship," an elder recalled.

This time, it was the clan head Hiruzen Sarutobi's turn to be embarrassed.

He had especially nurtured Naruto Uzumaki, thus Naruto's defeat - in some sense - was his, the clan head faction's, defeat.

As long as one entered the system, anyone would be labelled with factions. There were neutral political factions, but absolutely not a person without any faction.

"But in terms of power, his strength shouldn't be comparable to yours, right?" Shibi doubtfully asked Torune.

Chi San respectfully answered, "Elders, perhaps you might not know, Yami not only bought red steel Relic Gu, he also purchased a Black Boar Gu. These few months, he has been buying pork to nurture the Black Boar Gu and increase his strength. Once, I even saw him moving a huge rock in the mountain to measure his strength. I am not sure how much strength he has, but from what I have seen, his strength absolutely doesn't lose to mine."

"So it was like that. To think this kid, Yami has grown to this stage." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded his head. "Then let's assign Yami's group to give it a try."

Hearing this, the internal affairs hall elder awkwardly stood up from his seat, "Lord clan head, this Yami is a loner and hasn't joined a group."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.

"The thing is - after the first beast tide, his group was completely annihilated and the only survivor was him, alone," the internal affairs hall elder replied.

"Even if it is so, why was he not considered during the group reorganizing?" An elder curiously asked.

"Sigh!" The internal affairs hall elder gave a heavy sigh, "I also urged him about this, but he didn't have any intention to join any groups. Honestly speaking, I don't approve of this kid. He is very good at goofing around, it might be that he has lost the will to fight after inheriting that inheritance."

"Goofing around? How can that be, he hasn't joined any groups so how could he complete the monthly clan missions?" An elder doubted.

The internal affairs hall elder's face sank, "Every month, he receives the compulsory mission but the results are all failure. I haven't seen records worse than his; almost all the missions are recorded as failures. I have already tried talking with him several times, but he still wants to continue in his way, without any repenting. However, he hasn't violated the clan rules, so I can only give light punishments to this unruly and crafty kid!"

The elders looked at each other; they had never seen such a younger generation who didn't want to advance forward.

Mission failures represented a narrower career progression within the clan.

"This kid has become muddled….."

"Hmph, he is too unruly!"

"He is destroying his own future!"

"If I had such an insolent child, I would directly slap him to death!"

"Enough." Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his hand, putting a stop to the elders' private chats; one couldn't tell if he was happy or angry.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze moved around and finally stopped on the internal affairs hall elder, "Send a compulsory command, let Yami Uzumaki try his strength on River Swallowing Toad. This kid is stubborn, rebellious and unruly, he needs to be polished. If he fails, we can use this pretext to give some punishments."

"It will be as lord clan head says." The internal affairs hall elder promptly agreed.

There was a racket in the tavern.

"Do you guys know, the clan sent the Torune group to the foot of the mountain but they ended up returning in defeat."

"The villagers living at the foot of the mountain are all kneeling in front of the clan's entrance, blocking the gate."

"Hmph, these lowly commoners don't even have a bit of knowledge. River Swallowing Toad is a Rank five Gu, do they really think they will be safe in the village?"

Although this was said, the air was dense with panic. These Gu Masters were all forcefully calming themselves.

Yami listened for a short moment before no longer paying attention; this was no longer fresh news. He stood up and was about to leave when a person entered the tavern.

This person was tall with a thickly built body. The upper half of his body was naked and his muscles were the color of bright red, seemingly wanting to erupt.

It was Torune Aburame.

The chatters within the tavern immediately stopped. Countless gazes landed on Torune.

Torune ignored these gazes; he glanced around and found Yami.

"You were here." Under the numerous gazes, he walked in front of Yami, "Let's go, the clan has already given a compulsory order. Let's head to the foot of the mountain, I will tell you the details on the way."

Yami's gaze flashed, he couldn't refuse a compulsory order. Moreover, there was not much danger when facing the River Swallowing Toad, thus he agreed.

Only after Yami and Torune left the tavern did the racket start again in the tavern.

"Shopkeeper, the heavens have eyes. Look at this, such a quick karmic retribution! That is a Rank five Gu, even other lord Gu Masters are helpless facing it, whereas he is so young, isn't this just losing his life in vain?!"

"We thought young master Yami was different from other Gu Masters and would empathize with us mortals' pain and sufferings. Hmph, to think he would also be of the same mould. Screw him, we wouldn't have any regrets even if he dies."

"Shopkeeper, you didn't suffer this wound in vain, getting a Gu Master's life for it is absolutely a profit."

The old shopkeeper's head was bound with circles of white bandages. Right now, he continued to groan, leaning weakly against the corner.

Several waiters were by his side, consoling him.

The old man's eyes flashed with resentment, but his mood slightly eased up upon hearing these words.

However, after a while of listening, he hypocritically berated them in a low voice, "Shut your mouths, is this something we can talk of? Aren't you afraid of losing your lives if the other Gu Masters hear it?!"

The waiters giggled, "Shopkeeper, you are too worried. It is so noisy in the tavern, who could have heard our whisperings?"

They had just said this, when a Gu Master sitting nearest to them spoke, "I heard it."

The shopkeeper and the waiters' complexion changed greatly; they were extremely terrified.

"Lord..." The old shopkeeper ignored the dizzy feeling in his head and hurriedly walked towards the Gu Master to ask for forgiveness.

This Gu Master raised his hand and stopped him.

"You all spoke very well, I liked what you said. Yami, this bastard, even if he dies, it shouldn't be regretted! Speak more, I will give you great rewards if I like what you say!" The Gu Master took out a primeval stone and slammed it on the table with a bang.

If Yami was here, he would recognize this person. This person was that healing Gu Master of the previous small beast tide. Yami had used the girl this Gu Master sought after as a shield to cover his body. Thus, this Gu Master had a deep hatred towards Yami and it was irreconcilable.

The waiters looked at each other. One of them with more guts started staring at the primeval stone on the table with wide-eyes.

The Gu Master's three companions frowned, but didn't stop him. They could only listen to the waiters scolding Yami as if they were in a competition.

It was early autumn and the scenery was good.

In the forests, some leaves were of dark shade and some were of light. Green leaves had started changing to yellow and yellow leaves faintly showed red.

In the paddy field, fields of yellow-orange rice crops waved along with the autumn wind.

In some lush vegetable fields, the vegetable leaves were fat, tender and pleasing.

Yami sped all the way from the middle of the mountain, following the Torune group down to the foot of the mountain where he saw the Rank five River Swallowing Toad.

It was huge and resembled a small hill. It lay belly side up in the riverbed and blocked the river channel. The upstream of the river was already filled with so much water that it was almost spilling to the riverside. And there was almost no flow of the river downstream; only a shallow moist riverbed could be seen.

The River Swallowing Toad's belly was exquisite snow-white and was covered with a layer of luster. Its back was clear sky blue color and also had a glossy shine to it, with no warts like the ones found in common frogs and toads.

It was sound asleep at this moment. But there were no sounds of snoring; it was sleeping very quietly.

Sensing its aura, the two Liquor worms in Yami's aperture curled up into a ball. The Black Boar Gu's lively appearance seemed to have been wiped out as it flew down. The Moonglow Gu that resided in his right palm hid its glow.

Only the Spring Autumn Cicada was still sleeping peacefully.

Yami withdrew the Moonglow Gu into his aperture. As long as he didn't take the initiative to use these Gu, their aura wouldn't leak out. Putting them in the aperture was very safe and reliable.

"Yami, it's your turn next," Torune spoke from the side.

He had already explained most of the details on the way.

Yami also approved of this method. Of course, the simplest way was to use Spring Autumn Cicada; once a Rank six Gu worm's aura leaked out, this River Swallowing Toad would be frightened and immediately flee.

This was also because the River Swallowing Toad didn't like fighting. If it was a vicious Gu like the Blood River Python, Spring Autumn Cicada's aura would instead cause it to go berserk and retaliate madly.

Yami stood at the riverside, trying out to push at first. The River Swallowing Toad's skin was slippery, making one feel that his strength has been nullified.

In addition, it was extremely heavy, one simply couldn't even budge it.

"Can you do it?" Shino sneered from the side.

Yami ignored him and said to Torune, "Although I have the increased strength from Black Boar Gu, my strength is probably only a little more than yours. As for pushing this River Swallowing Toad, it is not hopeless, but I need your help."

"What help?" Torune immediately asked.

Yami slowly explained it. Torune was doubtful, "If we do this, wouldn't it be teaming up? Even if the River Swallowing Toad wakes up, will it still acknowledge you and then willingly leave?"

Yami smiled, "You don't have to worry about it. As long as you guys keep a distance and not let it detect you, it will be possible. After all, it is a Gu, don't think it as too intelligent."

At the height of autumn, the air was refreshing, and the breeze moderately flowed under the beautiful sun.

The blue dome of heaven was clean and clear like a crystal.

The wind blew gently, brushing Yami's appearance into motion.

Looking from afar, the nearby villages had little people. Nearby, the hill-like River Swallowing Toad was slumbering, blocking the river bed. Yami who was standing at the river edge looked like a tiny monkey beside a large elephant in comparison to this Rank five Gu.

Yami's heart was calm as water, without a trace of nervousness, thinking internally, "I used the White Boar Gu and the Black Boar Gu to enhance my body and raise my strength, having the strength of two boars. Together with my own strength, I have around the strength of five or six adults. But to push this River Swallowing Toad, I need to have around two bull's strength. With just my current strength, it will not do. But, if I borrow the power of the tides… it's here."

Swish swish swish…...

Yami turned his body around and saw that waves were crashing and approaching, causing a huge movement in the peaceful river water.

The tides got bigger and continually crashed against the River Swallowing Toad, causing the waves to fly high into the sky.

Yami only stood for a while before he got drenched.

He did not mind it, and began to push the River Swallowing Toad with vigor.

The River Swallowing Toad was still dead asleep. It was originally a Gu worm that lived in the rivers and sea, and to it, the force of the waves was normal and could not awaken it.

With the force of endless waves, Yami tried for some time and finally managed to push the River Swallowing Toad away from its original location.

The riverbed was wider as the river got downstream. Along with the flow of water, it made Yami's pushing easier.

After about three hundred meters, the River Swallowing Toad opened its sleepy eyes.

A pair of deep green eyes, in its sleepy state, gradually contracted and stared at Yami who was beside it.

Yami was fearless as he matched its gaze.

From its dark eerie eyes, Yami could see his own reflection.

"Jiangaaaang!" River Swallowing Toad raised its head, suddenly opening its mouth and emitting a strange croak.

The cry spread out and reverbed throughout Elemental Mountain.

At once, Yami could feel his ears going deaf from the ringing noise.

River Swallowing Toad lowered its head, its mouth sucking at the river water that was approaching.

Swish swish swish!

The river water flowed at ten times the original speed as it was all sucked into its stomach, and the water level could be seen decreasing at an observable pace.

Yami stood beside the River Swallowing Toad, clearly seeing a large amount of seafood also being sent into the River Swallowing Toad's stomach along with the river water.

Sensing the river water's change, the Torune group also hurried over, and as the three observed the River Swallowing Toad who was ingesting water, they were stunned.

"What a spectacular sight!" Shino observed, unable to hide his shock.

"You succeeded?" Torune looked at Yami.

"Seems so," Yami nodded lightly.

The water level decreased until the water stopped flowing, and the River Swallowing Toad raised its head once again, its stomach expanding and contracting, vomiting out numerous fish, prawns, turtles etc.

At once, a large amount of seafood fell onto the ground, emitting a crisp sound.

A fish splashed on the ground, a turtle fell on its back confused, the crabs walked away horizontally, and then they were smashed by the falling seafood.

Yami did not mind it and only looked casually, but suddenly he smelt some wine fragrance.

"Strange, why is there a wine smell?" Shino sniffed, a face of surprise.

"It should be the Hundred year bitter shell," the female Gu Master in the group said and pointed at a disc-sized broken black shell.

This shell was black as ink with white round markings on it, like the rings in a tree trunk.

"That's right, bitter shell can turn the sand and rocks into bitter water juice. Hundred year bitter shell's bitter water, after the accumulation through time, can turn into wine. Kiri Clan's current clan leader loves to drink this bitter shell wine," Torune added on.

He needn't go into detail; Yami had already long taken up this seashell, starting to collect his bitter shell wine.

Not too long ago, he was still worried about how to get this bitter shell wine, but to think it appeared in front of him like this.

Truly the phrase 'spending lots of effort looking for something fruitlessly, but it appears in front of you when least expected'!

The River Swallowing Toad had pretty much swallowed all the water in this river. Deep in the river bed, there had been some Hundred year bitter shells buried in the soil, and because of the River Swallowing Toad, the shells were exposed.

Yami quickly collected six little Hundred year bitter shells. Two of the shells were broken, but the other four were intact.

"I've finally collected the bitter wine, this way, I can start refining the Four Flavor Liquor worm!" This moment, Yami was overjoyed, but had no one to share the joy with.

"Jiangang!"

After the River Swallowing Toad vomited the seafood, it croaked again, and then looked at Yami once before moving its large body to swim downstream along the river.

"He really succeeded!" Torune muttered, his heart feeling relief. He observed the River Swallowing Toad leaving until its shadow was completely gone, away from his vision.

"What, he scared it away so easily. If I knew this earlier on, we could've done it ourselves, but now we let Yami become a hero so easily!" Shino pouted, his tone full of jealousy and indignance.

"Yami, no matter what, this time you have done a good deed, you are the Konoha Clan's hero!" Torune stared at Yami with a complicated expression.

"Oh," Yami replied absent-mindedly, giving a half-hearted feeling. At the same time, his gaze shone as he continued to rummage and search for Hundred year bitter shells among the seafood.

What hero, it was merely a title.

Between praise and slander, they were all views and expressions of others onto oneself.

What opinions others had of him, Yami did not give a damn.

You can think all you want, I live my own life.

Hero? Zero? Hehe, I rather have a bitter shell.

News of chasing away the River Swallowing Toad reached the village at once.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said "Good" three times continuously, and the solemnness in the hall was swept away at once.

Only the internal affairs elder's face was complicated, he did not think well of Yami. Not too long ago, he even criticized Yami, but now that the village was in danger, Yami was the one who resolved the issue. With these two issues coming together, wasn't it a slap in his face?

"Yami Uzumaki has the credit of chasing away the River Swallowing Toad, we'll make an exception to promote him to team leader and reward him five hundred primeval stones." Hiruzen thought, before giving the order filled with a special meaning.

In the wine tavern.

"What, Yami actually succeeded?!"

"Strange, he's just a newbie, how can he chase away a Rank five Gu worm?"

"Even Torune failed miserably, but he did it..."

The news spread, and everyone was filled with shock.

"Yami became the savior of our clan? This…" The male Gu Master who had animosity with Yami was lost for action after hearing this news.

His group leader suddenly shouted, pointing at the clerks in the tavern, "You mere mortals, you dare to slander our clan's hero, you deserve execution!"

Even before finishing his words, he shot a moonblade.

The elderly shopkeeper did not expect that such a life-threatening situation would occur, and after being hit by this moonblade on his neck, he was beheaded.

"Lord, spare us!" The clerks upon seeing this were first stunned but quickly kneeled on the ground, begging for mercy loudly.

"Group leader, what are you doing?" The Male Gu Master stood up.

"What am I doing huh?" His group leader moved his brows, sighing solemnly, "Times have changed, Yami has turned into a hero suddenly, the higher-ups will pay attention to him. If words of our slander towards him spread, what do you think will happen? There are lots of detection-type Gu Masters around, and if someone wants to harm us and said several bad things to the clan elders, our future would be ruined!"

The male Gu Master broke out in cold sweat from fear.

It was indeed like this, clan relationships ruled above all. Yami had gone and dealt with a Rank five Gu worm, risking his life to defend his clan. At the same time he was slandered and insulted by them. What mindset was this? This was ungratefulness, coldness, emotionless and utter disregard for relationships!

Like history on the Shinobi World, Sakumo Hatake fought in the battlefields, defending his country, but Danzo framed him as a spy.

Although these Gu Masters did not go as severe as framing, but if this matter was spread out, would the higher-ups feel safe with these people around?

If it was Hana or Shino, people with tough backgrounds, that would still be alright. But these few were people without backing.

Trying to climb up the system's ladder, it was push and shove, stepping on each other. If others used this incident and attacked them, to their future, it had a destructive influence!

"It is still not too late to salvage the situation, we just have to express our attitudes, and outsiders won't say much. These mortals have cheap lives, so be it if they die. But they can be sacrifices for us, and this is their honor. You guys should immediately strike, each one of you must kill one each. After killing you should praise Yami and express our stand!" the group leader shouted.

"Dammit!" The male Gu Master cursed; between hatred and his future, he unhesitantly chose the latter.

With a moonblade, a clerk died on the spot.

"Lord, please spare us." At once, all the other clerks were paralyzed on the ground, scared until they peed their pants.

The male Gu Master did not care about them, and under everyone's watchful gaze, he pointed at these pitiful clerks righteously, shouting, "You lot deserve death. Yami Uzumaki is a hero, and with his own strength, he defended the clan, what gave you the courage to slander him!"

The male Gu Master said this while frowning.

This was his true emotion. Yami was someone he deeply hated, but he had to praise him in public; he felt a strong sense of disgust and irk for himself.

"Lord, didn't you ask us…. Urgh!" A clerk felt feelings of injustice deeply, shouting out loudly.

But he could not finish his sentence before he stopped.

A moonblade went flying, splitting him in half.

"A bunch of lowly slaves, not only slandering Yami, but also wanting to implicate us!" A female Gu Master struck, her expression cold as she shouted fiercely.

Other Gu Masters seeing this, felt like they were watching a soap opera.

Some smirked, some were indifferent and some continued chatting, but nobody stopped them.

So what if a few mortals died?

Just compensating a few family servants would do.

Everyone was part of the clan, they were family. No one would interfere or pursue the matter for these outsiders, causing conflict for themselves.


	23. Sad, How Sad!

**Sad, How Sad!**

"Konoha Clan…." Akatsuchi stood at the mountainside and gazed at the distant Konoha village; a complicated expression on his face.

Cool autumn wind was breezing gently.

The color of autumn dyed the mountain.

Tree leaves were a mix of yellow and red, with wild fruits growing all over the place. Only the Elemental bamboo remained green and erect.

"Not long ago, Konoha Clan was like these Elemental bamboo, evergreen all the year, the overlord of Elemental Mountain. Now, they are actually falling behind," Akatsuchi's lips curved with a cold mocking smile.

But quickly, he thought of the Kiri Village and the curve of his lips smoothed out; his mood turned serious.

Kiri Village's uprising had already broken the old balance of Elemental Mountain. The traditional hedgemon, the Konoha clan had weakened; Iwa Village's operations were not running properly; all these were pushing the situation in the Elemental Mountain towards an upheaval.

Akatsuchi knew this upheaval hadn't erupted yet because of the pressure from the wolf tide. The three villages needed to collaborate if they wanted to overcome this wolf tide, thus they tacitly maintained peace and threw away grievances for the time being.

"Once the wolf tide is gone, Elemental Mountain's old structure will be shattered. Haku has already reached Rank three in only a couple of years. It's really terrifying….." Akatsuchi recalled the figure of a white-clothed youth, and he felt stifled as if he was pressed down by a huge rock.

He, Akatsuchi, was the top amongst the Iwa Village's Rank two Gu Masters. He had fought all sorts of battles and won most of them, establishing his name. He held the Grand Bear Gu and could erupt with a bear's strength. He was also known as the strongest person in Elemental Mountain.

He had already made his debut and had personally seen the rocket-like emergence of Haku, so he was clearer than others regarding the terror of this youth.

"Group leader, that is Konoha Village! It's still far away, why are we stopping here?" From the side, Hotsuchi raised his two hands and clasped them behind his head as he curiously asked.

In this five-person group, Hotsuchi was the youngest and was a newbie who just made his debut. He was the same age as Yami and was this year's top genius of Iwa Village.

His stature was short and he had shaved his head which seemed to shine under the sunlight.

Akatsuchi looked at this new talent of the clan, his heavy mood eased up a little. He answered in a deep voice, "We are here on a diplomatic mission and not on a scouting mission. This area is already the warning area of the Konoha clan, and we will probably be treated as enemies if we boldly enter."

"Oh, so it was like that." Hotsuchi realized.

"We have two objectives this time. One is to hand the clan head's personal letter to Konoha's clan head. Another is to investigate the matter regarding the River Swallowing Toad. Konoha Village is not our area, so make sure to keep your temper in check when we get there. However, you absolutely can't degrade the prestige of our Iwa Village, understood?" Akatsuchi's gaze swept all around and shouted.

The rest of the Gu Master's expressions all turned serious and silently nodded.

"Group leader, someone's here," the scouting Gu Master in the group suddenly spoke.

"We have revealed our movements for so long, they should be here by now. But who would it be…...hmm? So it was Torune." Soon after, Akatsuchi also discovered Torune group; his eyes flashed.

"Wow! That person is so tall, is he Torune? He is even taller than the group leader. Such muscles, piece by piece...group leader, isn't he the guy born with super strength who has been trying to seize the title of the strongest person of the Elemental mountain?" Hotsuchi immediately looked straight at Torune.

"Hmph, it had to be him….." Kitsuchi spoke gloomily and twisted her lips in disdain.

"Akatsuchi!"

"Torune."

The two groups were fifty steps apart from each other. The two group leaders came face to face, their gazes clashed in the air and seemed to form sparks.

"Looks like you are Iwa Village's special envoy this time," Torune snorted coldly; he had fought many times with Akatsuchi.

"That's right. Has the special envoy from the Kiri Village arrived?" Akatsuchi's expression steeled up.

"Why ask so much? Follow me," Torune cautiously turned and invited.

Meanwhile.

In the second secret room, four wine jars were in front of Yami.

Sour, sweet, bitter and spicy, four flavors of wine. Sweet belonged to golden honey wine; spicy was white grains liquid; sour came from redberry wine; bitter was from bitter shell wine.

Yami sat cross-legged on the ground. He then willed the two Liquor worms to fly out of his aperture.

The fusion process of Four Flavours Liquor worm was slightly different from normal fusion.

The two Liquor worms followed Yami's will and entered the redberry wine jar.

They started the fusion within the redberry wine. A white ball of light formed in the wine jar, its majestic light pierced out of the wine jar and shone on the wall.

Yami threw primeval stones in the wine jar; one piece, ten pieces, fifty pieces…..

When it reached the hundredth piece, the light ball shrunk to a fist's size and floated in the wine jar.

The redberry wine was completely used up. Yami picked the second wine jar - golden honey wine - and poured it into the jar.

The white ball of light was immersed in the honey wine, suddenly swelling up to its original size.

Yami's head was soaked with sweat; he was constantly maintaining the fusion of the two Liquor worms' consciousness, and such multitasking was extremely taxing on the mind.

He continued to throw primeval stones towards the wine jar.

Every piece of primeval stones caused the ball of light to shrink by a bit, until it condensed to a fist's size again, reaching its limit.

Yami followed the pattern and successively poured the bitter shell wine, then the white grains liquid.

When the four types of wine were completely used up, the light in the wine jar suddenly flourished before disappearing completely.

"Success." Yami knew he had succeeded without even looking in the wine jar.

He willed and a Gu shakingly flew out of the wine jar.

It was the Four Flavours Liquor worm.

Comparing it with the Liquor worm, there wasn't much change in its external form, except that it was slightly bigger.

It also resembled a silkworm and had a tiny pair of shiny black eyes.

The difference was that the Liquor worm's body was completely white, but this Four Flavours Liquor worm's body continuously flickered with four colors; red representing spicy, blue representing bitter, green representing sour and yellow representing sweet. Yami couldn't help but associate it with the neon lights on Earth.

"Huff…" Yami let out a big sigh of relief. His luck was good this time and didn't encounter failure, succeeding the first time.

If it failed, the Liquor worms could suffer serious damage and one of them could even die, or the bitter shell wine might be used up. Either of these outcomes would be troublesome.

Fortunately, this situation didn't occur.

A Gu Master needs to use, nurture and refine Gu; none of them were easy. And in the aspect of fusing Gu worms, many Gu Masters would go through a lot to look for recipes and collect materials.

There were various recipes and they might not necessarily be suitable. As for collecting materials, Gu Masters might even spend over ten years of efforts on it. Even if they find the recipe and collect all the materials, if the fusion failed, the materials would be used up, and all their previous efforts and preparations would go down the drain.

"Gu Master's cultivation is difficult….." Yami sighed.

Fusing Gu worms were easy at the beginning stage of the cultivation. But the success rate for Rank four and Rank five fusion would often not reach even one in ten times.

Rank six fusion success rate was even as low as one percent. Every failure when fusing high rank Gu worms meant a loss of a great sum of resources.

However, once succeeded, the benefits would be extremely high.

Taking Yami's newly refined Four Flavours Liquor worm into account, it could refine Rank two primeval essence and increase it by a small realm.

Yami used a red steel Relic Gu to advance to middle stage. Now, with the Four Flavours Liquor worm, he would have upper stage primeval essence.

His fighting strength was now doubled. At the same time, the Four Flavours Liquor worm would nourish his aperture which meant faster cultivation speed.

However, with advantages comes disadvantages.

Using the Four Flavours Liquor worm to refine his primeval essence would definitely lead to an increased consumption of primeval stones. Just by relying on the income from selling vitality leaves was already not enough to maintain his cultivation expenditure.

"Next, I need to fuse the Stealth Rock Gu into Stealth Scales Gu. This will add on to another expenditure."

Fusion, whether success or failure, used up primeval stones every time. Yami had used up over four hundred primeval stones earlier for refining the Four Flavours Liquor worm.

The clan had awarded him with five hundred primeval stones for chasing away the River Swallowing Toad. Five hundred primeval stones was enough for other Gu Masters to spend for a long while, but Yami had almost used it completely.

Fortunately, from the reselling of the assets, after using up most of it to purchase the red steel Relic Gu, some of it still remained. There was no need to worry for a short period of time.

But it was necessary to refine the Scales Stealth Gu.

Yami had obtained the Stealth Rock Gu after he killed the stone monkey king. However, it had no practical use.

It could only conceal the body. That meant, once Yami used it, his body would be concealed and be invisible to people.

But the clothes on his body - his wrist guards, leg wrappings and bamboo shoes would still be visible to the naked eyes.

The stone monkey king had no worries about this; it was a wild beast and didn't need clothes.

But Yami would be in an awkward situation. To use the Stealth Rock Gu to the best of its ability and be invisible, he would need to take of all the clothes on his body. Otherwise, even if he concealed his body, others would see a set of 'walking' Rank two Gu Master's uniform.

Stealth Rock Gu was a Rank one Gu worm. Once it advanced to Rank two Stealth Scales Gu, this problem would be resolved.

Stealth Scales Gu could conceal even the clothes. If the stone monkey king had Stealth Scales Gu, then even if Yami's shirt covered its body, the shirt would also become invisible.

Supposing that the stone monkey king had Stealth Scales Gu, then the matter of whether Yami could defeat it was rather suspenseful.

Refining a Stealth Scales Gu naturally required other materials other than the Stealth Rock Gu. These materials were quite common and Yami had already requested Jiro's help to gather them.

"If I could refine Stealth Scales Gu, it will become very convenient for me to enter the secret cave. Moreover, during the wolf tide, I could easily attack and retreat with this method," Yami pondered.

It was getting late, he retrieved the Four Flavours Liquor worm into his aperture and exited the cave, walking towards the village.

He had instantly attracted a lot of attention after successfully chasing away the River Swallowing Toad. It was not easy moving about these days, so he was slightly worried that if he stayed for long in the secret cave, people would harbor suspicions.

At the village gate, a bout of strength contest had concluded.

Akatsuchi's group was proudly standing whereas Torune's group along with the Gu Masters guarding the gate had heavy faces.

Akatsuchi wasn't as tall as Torune but his gaze seemed to be overlooking everything at this moment. He slowly spoke, "Torune, you are indeed blessed with super strength. But I have Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu and I possess the strength of a bear. You saw from the battle just now that you are still not my match."

"Hmph, wanting to get the title of the strongest in Elemental Mountain, dream on," Kitsuchi sneered from the side.

Torune's face was ashen, he knew the other party had intentionally challenged him and their conduct was filled with political intentions. His loss now was no longer just his personal affair; rather, it was tarnishing Konoha clan's name.

"What are you being proud over defeating me? You don't know that I am no longer the strongest person in the clan. If you have skills, then speak after defeating Yami," Torune had no choice but to mention Yami.

"Oh, Yami? I heard an A grade genius emerged in Konoha clan and his name was Naruto. But who is this Yami?" Akatsuchi asked, doubtfully.

Torune sneered, "Yami is Naruto's older brother, he is also blessed with innate super strength and similarly possesses a strength-increasing Gu worm. Previously, he alone pushed the Rank five River Swallowing Toad over a hundred meters, finally driving it away. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone in the village."

Akatsuchi group's expressions couldn't help but change.

Rank five River Swallowing Toad!

Yami!

This name was instantly engraved in their minds.

Whizzzz!

Three face-sized moonblades slashed through the air, carrying an eerie blue light.

Screeeech!

Instantly, sixteen to seventeen jade eye stone monkeys were killed on the spot.

The stone monkey groups chasing after Yami were instantly cut down by a small half.

Yami stood on the spot and didn't retreat. Instead, he lifted his right hand and slashed the air three times.

Three moonblades ran through the stone monkey group, beheading any stone monkey in its way.

The corpses of the stone monkeys fell on the ground, shattering into countless pieces. Their eyes turned into jade pearls and rolled on the blood-filled ground.

Yami inspected his aperture; he still had greater half of dark red primeval essence remaining.

The Moonglow Gu required ten percent of light red primeval essence to use a moonblade. Yami could only use four moonblades repeatedly at Rank two initial stage. The number increased to eight when he reached the middle stage. And at the upper stage, the number doubled once more, reaching sixteen.

Yami wasn't really at Rank two upper stage, but with the Four Flavours Liquor worm's refining of upper stage primeval essence, he could be considered to be at false upper stage; his fighting strength was rising sharply.

Before, he would have needed to fight while retreating when chased by these seventy or eighty stone monkeys. Now, he just attacked with the moonblades, rapidly killing most of them. The remaining stone monkeys had escaped.

"I cleared up three stone pillars within just two days. This speed is many times faster than before! If this goes on, I will be able to re-open a path to the central area in about half a month," Yami pondered.

"From the Flower Wine Monk's style, the underground cave in the central pillar should be the next barrier. It is very likely that there will be another Earth Treasure Flower Gu at the barrier. I reckon the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance is almost over. After all, he was seriously injured and his state was far from good, thus he hurriedly set up this inheritance. At most, there will probably be two more obstacles remaining."

Yami recalled the scene on the image wall; the blood-soaked Flower Wine Monk on his last breath. With his previous life's deep experience, he reached this conclusion.

Flower Wine Monk had too little time to set up this legacy, there was no way for him to do more. However, this was a special case.

Gu Masters normally used years to set up their legacies. There were some large scaled legacies that would only open once every ten or more years. Some legacies were even divided and scattered across different areas and could even be at the different ends of the world.

The latter generations would need ten or more years or even decades of time to go through all the tests of such legacies.

Some legacies might not even be explored completely throughout a Gu Master's life; the Gu Master would often leave this incomplete task for their descendants.

"Flower Wine Monk's inheritance can be classified as a micro-scale legacy; its shortcoming being the small amount of inheritance items. But this also has its advantage — the first barrier is arranged according to the local conditions and is thus simple. I have successively obtained White Boar Gu, Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm from this inheritance. Stealth Stone Gu can be barely considered as the inheritance. Next, there are probably only two more earth treasure flowers remaining. I hope that the Gu worms in them will be related to scouting or movement-type!"

Time passed quickly, autumn went and winter arrived.

Early winter, the first snowfall had come.

The sky was grey, snowflakes floated and fell on Elemental Mountain.

Yami was moving alone through the snow. He had just come out from the secret cave in the stone crack and was hurrying towards the village.

"Over two months have passed, but my progress in clearing the stone pillars has not been good." Yami's countenance carried a dark scowl.

It was not because he hadn't put in effort, but rather the prelude to the wolf tide had already shown its signs.

Food was scarce during the winter; the growing wolf packs started to increase their hunting scale to gather enough foods to eat their fill.

The wild beast groups in the surroundings were purged due to this. Small beast tides frequently started to occur due to the disorder; similarly, there were also the crippled wolf packs.

These crippled wolves were expelled from the nest. These wolves gathered together and formed a group; they had started making frequent movements near the village.

It hadn't reached the wild stage of attacks on the village yet, but the hunter families no longer went up the mountain to hunt. Similarly, there were occasionally some villagers who lost their lives to the wolves.

Konoha Village mobilized many Gu Masters to carry out a clean-up operation. Due to this, there were many people moving about, along with lot of scouting Gu Masters among them. Thus, Yami sensibly decreased the amount of times he went to the secret cave inside the stone crack.

No doubt, this caused the speed of his progress in the stone forest to fall steeply.

The cold wind was getting stronger; snow was also falling heavily.

Houuuuu…

A deep beastly howl suddenly spread through the wind and snow.

Yami swiftly stopped and looked around, alert.

A small scale wolf pack with about twenty or more lightning wolves quickly appeared in range of his sight.

"Here we go again..." Yami muttered, this was already the eighth beast group he had encountered this month.

However, this time was somewhat different.

"The wolf packs are starting to make their moves so near to the village. Next, the clan's Gu Masters will make their moves more often. The stone crack's secret cave is not far away; looks like I can't go there for some time." Yami's heart sank upon this thought.

The journey was difficult, there would always be some obstacles preventing people from progressing.

The wolf pack closed in on Yami.

Houuu! Houuu! Houuu!

They howled before charging at Yami, coming at him one after another.

"Moonglow Gu," Yami willed; a moonblade flew out from his hand.

The eerie blue moonblade slashed through the wind and snow, going through the sickly wolves. It instantly beheaded three wolves, but when it reached the fourth wolf, the wolf suddenly rolled and cleverly dodged the moonblade.

Although most of these crippled wolves were handicapped, blind or missing their tails, they had plenty of battle experience and were very cunning.

A normal Rank two middle stage Gu Master would be in intense danger if they ran into such a group of crippled wolves and especially if they were surrounded by these wolves.

But Yami was calm.

His plentiful battle experience and the refined upper stage dark red primeval essence were the source of his confidence.

Kill, kill, kill!

He nimbly moved under the joint attacks from the crippled wolves, calmly dodging and decisively attacking.

The wolves continued to die by his hands.

After a short while, the number of the lightning wolves in the pack had sharply decreased by half.

Houuu—!

A wolf gave a mournful howl; the wolf pack immediately stopped their offensive attacks and began retreating.

This was the cunningness of these wolves.

When they discovered that Yami was a tough bone, they decisively retreated, giving up their plan to hunt Yami.

These old, sickly and injured wolves weren't in a perfect state but being able to live till now showed their survival wisdom.

Yami stood on the spot, calmly looking at these crippled wolves disappearing into the wind and snow. If he could hide his strength, then he didn't feel it necessary to reveal it.

After confirming that the wolf pack had completely escaped, he promptly collected the items on the wolf corpses.

Wolf skin, teeth and so on were all valuable.

Although their market price was on the low end, it could be made up by the quantity.

In these two months, Yami had made some earnings from the spoils of war from eradicating these crippled wolves.

The blood flowing from the wolf corpses were still warm. There were some crippled wolves who still had some breath left, their eyes showing a trace of vigor.

"In this world, not only humans but all living things are struggling to survive. This world is using life and death to unfold a brilliant stage!" Yami sighed before ruthlessly killing off these dying wolves.

A crippled wolf's fighting strength was higher than two jade eye stone monkeys. Under the coordination with the pack, their fighting strength would double.

"I can still deal with these small-scale crippled wolf packs. But it would be troublesome to handle large scale crippled wolf packs or a small scale healthy wolf pack."

Yami could feel a faint pressure.

"The wolf tide will break out soon and the whole clan will be mobilized. I won't be able to act aloof. If I want to hunt the lightning wolves by myself, I must have a scouting or movement-type gu. Otherwise, I will fall to the wolf tide."

Yami clearly recognized his shortcomings due to his ample experience.

His fighting strength had increased sharply after getting the Four Flavours Liquor worm. With the Moonglow Gu and Jade Skin Gu, he had both offense and defense. With his previous life's deep accumulation, he could totally be ranked along with Hashirama, Torune and Hana.

One could say, he was barely, but already able to stand in the top ranks among the Rank two Gu Masters of the clan.

Why it was barely, was because he was not truly at the upper stage, and at the same time his aptitude was also only C grade and was thus very limited.

Being able to accomplish this much with his fighting strength was already the best result, but fighting strength was only one aspect in surviving the wolf tide.

"I must have a scouting method. If I have a scouting Gu worm, I will be able to sense the movements of the wolf pack and quickly retreat or move through another route. Or use movement-type Gu worms to quickly run and escape from the wolf pack's besiegement," Yami pondered.

His survival rate would greatly increase if he had just one of these two Gu worms. If he had both, then he would be able to move about easily.

"I hope Flower Wine Monk's legacy contains such Gu worms. It's not a problem even if it doesn't. From my memories, the three clans would jointly establish contributions list during the wolf tides and put their stored Gu worms out for exchange. There were many precious Gu in the list. At that time, I can use my contributions and exchange them for Bai or Iwa Village's Gu worms."

Yami planned in his mind and stood up.

He had swiftly arranged the spoils of war in a short period and packed them in a bag which he then carried on his back.

The snow continued to fall and soon froze the wolf blood, covering their corpses.

"Look, Yami is back."

"He is carrying a bag, did he go out to hunt the crippled wolves again?"

"It was him that saved our village?"

"Hey, it was only by a stroke of luck. We both know how it went, if I had such great strength, I could also do that. It's no big deal."

As Yami walked through the village, the people made way for him; there were praises, curiosity and also envy.

"Yami!" Torune suddenly appeared from a corner and shouted.

"What's the matter?" Yami looked at Torune.

Even if it was winter, he continued to be topless, his red skin emitting a warmth that made people feel like they were near a heater.

The white snow that landed on his body instantly melted.

This is because his aperture had a Double Orifice Stove Gu.

The Stove Gu was a Rank two Gu worm. It could store internal heat that could be used for attacking. Subduing the cold was just a side effect.

Torune's expression was complicated, he stared at Yami and said gravely, "Do you know that these days, Akatsuchi from the Iwa Clan has been finding you for a contest of strength?"

"I know," Yami nodded.

Torune sighed, "Akatsuchi finding you for a contest of strength is not a mere competition, but it involves the interest allocation of the three clans' alliance. Under the wolf tide, non-alliance means destruction. But after forming an alliance, the biggest problem is how to distribute the interests and profits. These days, the three clans have been at a stalemate due to that."

Yami looked at Torune, instantly understanding why he had looked for himself.

Negotiation was the hardest thing to do. For their own interests, the three clans would not give way automatically, and they would have to fight for their best interests. The negotiation table was long filled with gunpowder and smoke, battling wits.

In this world's system of values, first was strength, second was kinship.

Elemental Mountain's three clans were individual clans, having great conflict towards each other since a long time ago, each bearing old and deep grudges. Of course kinship cannot be used to alleviate their tensions. So to break the tension, they had to rely on strength.

On earth, there are military exercises to display one's strength. In this world, it worked similarly in that there are Gu contests to display the strength of one faction and achieve greater benefits for themselves.

Akatsuchi finding Yami for a contest to compete strength, was due to this.

As expected, Torune said next, "I have competed with Akatsuchi, he has the Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu and already possesses the strength of one bear. He also has the Grand Bear Gu, and can increase his strength by another bear. Together he has two bear's strength. I am far beyond his match, as much as I want to deny it. But as Elemental Mountain's number one strongest person, the title belongs to him no doubt."

He paused for a while, then continue, "Let's talk business. Your strength is around mine, so you are not his match either. But you cannot lose, as you were the one who woke up the River Swallowing Toad, the hero that saved Elemental Mountain. Once you lose, our Konoha Clan's interests will be compromised. So for the clan's interests, discard your personal honor and avoid battle!"

Yami stared silently at Torune.

Torune looked down, "I know that this matter towards you is very difficult. After all, avoiding the competition has a disastrous damage towards one's own reputation. But it is for the interests of the clan; if you lose, the clan would have to give up much more. The clan has nurtured us, we naturally have to contribute to the clan right? The clan needs you. Sacrificing your own reputation for the clan is only natural! But this matter started due to me, so in my personal name, I will compensate you for it, as part of my goodwill."

Saying so, Torune handed Yami a large money bag.

Yami weighed it, and chuckled, "So my reputation is only worth two hundred primeval stones?"

Torune could hear the sarcasm in his words, his gaze sharpened as he said solemnly, "Yami, please do not have any indignant feelings! Earlier, I tried to console you with kind words, but the truth is I'm here with a mission. Avoiding the competition is the clan higher-up's orders. Regardless of what you think, this is an order. I hope you understand your position."

Saying so, he turned around and left, leaving deep footprints in the snow.

Yami looked at Torune's back as his eyes revealed a sign of understanding.

"In order to get the greatest benefits, the clan has already used the event of me chasing away the River Swallowing Toad as a chip in the negotiation. After all, the River Swallowing Toad was a danger to the entire Elemental Mountain. In order to get rid of this chip, the Iwa Clan sent Akatsuchi to challenge me."

"To the clan, I am but a chess piece. Akatsuchi is the same, and Torune is also a chess piece. What is sad is that these people are willingly being pawn pieces, even basking in its glory and finding it natural; this is truly a successful brainwash by the clan."

"But I originally did not want to compete with Akatsuchi anyway, the so-called reputation is merely praises from others. This chain that binds people has captured many heroes and geniuses in the past. But to me, what loss is there? Hehe, I have to thank Torune for sending me two hundred primeval stones."

Thinking of this, Yami smirked.

Why did he attract Akatsuchi's challenge? Merely because he had the glory of saving the village. Why did Torune challenge Akatsuchi? It was merely for the reputation of Elemental Mountain's number one strongman.

The so-called reputation is merely a superficial carrot. It has tempted many people and trampled many others, manipulating countless people.

Sad, how sad!

Snow continued to descend slowly.

The entire Konoha Village was silently erected in the snow. The people beside him rushed through the streets.

"What's laughable is that these people have had their bodies trapped by this fictitious glory!" Yami's eyes drooped down as his eerie dark iris was half-covered by hair.

The light reflecting from the snow shone on his face. The young man's face was pale and had a sort of coldness.

Suddenly laughing, Yami recited a poem, "White snow blankets the land as I travel alone through heaven and earth. Alone without any attachments, my solitary shadow travels freely."

He took a large step and continued travelling.

While others rushed, Yami walked alone.

Whether it was clansmen, snow or the village, they were merely a blurry background.


	24. How can I bother with these trivialities

**How can I bother with these trivialities?**

A moment later, he reached his rental apartment.

The bamboo buildings and the wine tavern, he had already sold them all away. He continued to stay in the rented flat, and although it was very simple, Yami did not ask for more, he just needed a shelter over his head.

Sitting on the bed, Yami began to cultivate.

Gu Masters in cultivating to breakthrough a large realm, needed ability and talent. But to break through a small realm, it was merely the accumulation of time. With enough time, the aperture would be continuously nurtured, and it can continue to elevate.

According to agreement, when it reached evening, Jiro came to Yami's residence.

"Lord Yami, these are the primeval stones this time, please inspect it." He walked into the room, handing over five money bags respectfully, filled with primeval stones.

There was more than four hundred primeval stones inside, and as the wolf tide approached, Gu Masters had an increased reliance on the vitality leaves. This caused Yami's sale price to continuously go up.

Yami handed Jiro nine vitality leaves, asking, "The thing I asked you to purchase, have you done it?"

Jiro showed a look of disappointment, shaking his head, "Lord Yami, this is bad timing. The wolf tide is coming, and the clan has increased its control on resources. Other things aside, that Fish Scale Gu is only slightly less valuable than the Jade Skin Gu. I have already tried my best, but it is difficult to have results immediately."

Yami frowned.

Fish Scale Gu was used with Stealth Rock Gu to create the Stealth Scale Gu. Without the Fish Scale Gu, he couldn't refine the Stealth Scale Gu.

"Even with resource control, it does not mean we cannot find a Fish Scale Gu. The root of the problem is Jiro's ability being too small. It seems that fusing the Stealth Scale Gu would have to drag on." Yami sighed in his heart.

But he was not discouraged.

Nine out of ten things in this world will not go according to plan.

This is life, and the phrase "smooth-sailing" is only a beautiful greeting.

"Kiri Clan produces the Fish Scale Gu, and our clan also has them, although less in number. It seems this matter has to wait after the formal alliance."

Yami was not in a rush, he knew that once the three clans form an alliance, they would create the battle merit board. This would encourage Gu Masters to proactively hunt wolves. By then, he would be able to use his merit points to exchange for the three clan's resources.

Of course, Konoha Clan's Moonlight Gu, Iwa Clan's Bear Strength Gu and Kiri Clan's Stream Gu were the clan's signature, and would not be exchangeable.

But the Fish Scale Gu was definitely inside.

Danger is accompanied by opportunity.

To Gu Masters, the wolf tide was a strict examination, but also an opportunity to rise up.

Under the attack of the wolf tide, numerous famous Gu Masters died while many Gu Masters gained fame due to it. The older factions in the clan would weaken due to this, but new factions would rise up into the political stage.

At night, unexpected guests arrived.

Hashirama and Naruto Uzumaki.

Hashirama got to the main point, mentioning his previous objective, wanting to buy the Liquor worm from Yami.

At the same time, he also wanted to buy the Black Boar Gu, and even the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass.

Nine Leaf Vitality Grass was a no brainer; Liquor worm had long become the Four Flavor Liquor worm, even if Yami wanted to, he couldn't even produce it now, thus he rejected them.

But the Black Boar Gu...

"I have already gained the strength of a boar, so the Black Boar Gu has little value to me anymore. Black Boar Gu's best advancement path is the Steel Mane Gu. Although it is a Gu with both offense and defense, to me who already has the White Jade Gu, it has little use. I might as well exchange it into a Fish Scale Gu."

Yami thought of this, and mentioned it.

"Fish Scale Gu?" Hashirama frowned, then nodded, "I know, you lack a defensive Gu worm. The Fish Scale Gu can be fused into the Rank two Scale Armor Gu. It can provide good defense."

Using the Fish Scale Gu and Stealth Rock Gu to create the Stealth Scale Gu, the recipe would only be discovered two hundred years later, so it was natural that Hashirama had no clue.

Yami did not expose himself, "The Black Boar Gu is more valuable than the Fish Scale Gu, so if we exchange it, you have to compensate me the difference in price."

"Naturally." Hashirama nodded then asked, "Nevermind about the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, are you really not selling the Liquor worm? It is useless to you already, raising it for nothing is just a waste of your primeval stones."

Yami shook his head, "Don't mention the Liquor worm, it is not for sale."

Hashirama rubbed his nose, laughing bitterly, "Yami, this matter is more complicated than you think. Do you know Shizune? She is the granddaughter of medicine hall elder Tsunade, a new student this year, and has B grade aptitude. Tsunade loves her granddaughter and once tried to buy a Liquor worm in the treehouse, but did not succeed."

"You've used the Liquor worm before, I'm sure you know the benefits it has. I won't say anymore, but Lord Tsunade really wants this Gu worm for her granddaughter. An elderly's affection for her grandchildren is completely understandable. Thus, she has come to you, she is serious about buying it and has offered a high price. She even promises that if you got injured in the wolf tide, you'd get special attention from the medicine hall. I hope you consider it thoroughly."

"So that's it," Yami rubbed his chin, then shook his head, "This Liquor worm is not for sale. Since Tsunade is insistent, why isn't she finding that Gu Master who bought the Liquor worm?"

Hearing this, Hashirama looked like a dark cloud was looming over him as he sighed deeply, "Sigh, we do not know which clansman has it. After buying this Liquor worm, there has been absolutely no news. We cannot find anything, and we cannot simply inspect apertures right? That is a taboo, the biggest taboo among Gu Masters. For a small matter like the Liquor worm, causing public rage is not good. But it is understandable that this clansman is keeping a low profile on his treasure, this is also human nature."

Hashirama did not know that the real person who bought the Liquor worm was sitting in front of him.

But Hashirama never suspected Yami, since in his perspective, Yami had the Liquor worm already, he wouldn't need to buy a second one. What's the use of it?

If he knew about the Four Flavor Liquor worm's recipe, he would definitely suspect Yami. But now, this recipe was solely Yami's secret to keep.

The only one who knew that Yami was the buyer, is Itachi. But to Itachi, Yami could be helping another person to buy it. Whether it be a relative or a lover, something like this is natural. Tsunade is the same right, buying the Liquor worm for her granddaughter?

"No matter what, I am not giving way for this Liquor worm matter." Yami's attitude was firm without any loosening, as he smirked in his heart.

This was the system.

The system made one strong, but it was also a restraint.

Tsunade was a Rank three Gu Master. She was much stronger than Yami, but due to the system she could not snatch it from him. Due to the rules of the system and minding her own reputation, she cannot forcefully purchase it either.

Naruto who was at one side suddenly urged, "Brother, the Liquor worm is useless to you, why cling on to it. Granny Tsunade is very kind. I've met sister Shizune many times too, she is a good person, I am sure she will take good care of the Liquor worm. And the Liquor worm is very helpful to her. Kindness begets kindness, brother, you saved the village and I am happy for you. This brings honor to our family as well. But why are you being so stubborn now, isn't this too petty?"

Yami's expression stiffened as he said coldly, " My good little brother, are you lecturing me? The Liquor worm is my business. Even if it rots in my hands, you have no rights to dictate what I do."

He was not really angry, but attitude is the mask of the heart, and by expressing his attitude, it would allow Hashirama to see his determination to reject.

"It seems Yami is bent on rejecting. Bringing Naruto here on purpose was a bad move. These brothers have a poor relationship and are always at odds, I've shot myself in the foot," Hashirama's gaze shone.

"Naruto, go out and shop around." Naruto wanted to say more, but he was stopped by Hashirama.

Naruto gritted his teeth, but still obeyed Hashirama's command.

"Either way, I cannot understand you in this matter, big brother." He opened the door, leaving his last sentence.

"What I do, does not require your understanding, Naruto." Yami was expressionless.

Naruto's movement of opening the door stopped for a moment, but he quickly walked out of the room without turning around, closing the room door with a bam.

This movement caused the room's atmosphere to become even more awkward.

"If there is nothing else, brother Hashirama can take your leave." Yami instantly evicted his guest.

"Hehehe," Hashirama laughed dryly, trying to alleviate the tension, but Yami's face was cold as ice, showing no signs of change.

But his temper was mild, and he did not get frustrated.

Touching his nose, Hashirama laughed awkwardly, "There is another matter, regarding the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass."

"The Nine Leaf Vitality Grass is not for sale." Yami rolled his eyes.

"I know, I know," Hashirama nodded, "It is regarding the vitality leaf, this is the personal business of my group. I hope you can supply the produced vitality grass to us. Of course, we will pay you an appropriate compensation."

Seeing business approaching, Yami naturally did not reject, "Then, sixty-five primeval stones per leaf."

Hashirama on hearing the price, was tongue-tied.

According to market rates, the clan's original sale price is fifty-five primeval stones. Although the vitality leaf is an expenditure type Rank one Gu, gone after one use, this was something to save lives, and nobody would mind more of it.

Especially with the wolf tide nearing, the clan is also raising prices, and each leaf is sold at sixty primeval stones. Actually, not just the vitality leaf, but also resources are also getting pricier. This is the volatility of the situation, and Gu Masters have to live with it.

But what Hashirama did not expect was, Yami's price was even higher than the clan's.

"Finding it expensive? You don't have to buy it. But as far as I know, after the wolf tide, the clan will tightly control resources, and the vitality leaf would have excess demand. By then, the prices will soar again, there might not even be stock, what do you think?" Yami's tone was calm as he safely evaluated his pricing.

Hashirama was stumped, his tone turning helpless, "You sure are clear of it. But your price raising is slightly overbearing. Aren't you afraid of offending people? If you reduce the prices, you can use the opportunity to build relationships. But if you raise prices like this, the clansmen will keep a grudge on you for earning profits this way."

Yami raised his head and laughed, "The wolf tide is nearing, I am but a small fry, I can die anyday. How can I bother with these trivialities?"

"You have long gone past the stage of a small fry, and human relationships are not trivial either." Hashirama stared at Yami deeply, then lightly shook his head, "But everyone has their own thoughts and choices, I will not force you. However do be more careful, Lord Tsunade will not let go so easily... Goodbye."

Hashirama no longer mentioned the matter of purchasing vitality leaves, Yami's prices had scared him.

He was a smart person, and when a smart person buys things, they do not act on impulse, but only after intelligent consideration. A smart person would have an evaluation in their heart, and once the prices exceed their worth, they would calmly pull out.

Yami seemed to have only increased the price by five primeval stones, but Hashirama was not just buying one vitality leaf, and the wolf tide would be going on for at least a year, he would be expending a lot of vitality leaves. If this accumulated, it would be a heavy cost.

"Thanks for your advice, take care, I shall not send you off," Yami said, watching Hashirama leave. His heart was clear as he knew that Hashirama would definitely be back.

That is because he had underestimated the wolf tide's severity too much.

Under such a wolf tide, death might instantly befall anyone, and the vitality leaf had no lack of customers. In his memory, the price rocketed to over a hundred primeval stones!

Of course, this price was also during the period when the wolf tide was at its strongest. Right now, what Yami wanted to do was to accommodate to the time period, gradually raising prices.

As time flowed, the winter wind grew more cold and harsh.

This year's winter winds were evidently colder than previous years for Elemental Mountain's three villages.

Taking the Konoha Village for example.

More and more crippled wolves appeared near the village surroundings.

The clan sent out large amounts of missions, and almost all of them were about exterminating the crippled wolves.

During December, when the crippled wolves' amount reached its peak, this caused the situation to worsen quickly, reaching an atrocious level. In fact, there was even a situation where a hamlet at the mountain foot was slaughtered by a large group of wolves.

Good thing was, the dozen Gu Masters in the village retreated in time. The clan higher-ups breathed a sigh of relief secretly, as the death of a Gu Master would cause them to feel pity for over half a day, but for mortals, they were all slaves anyway, so be it if they die.

In this world, there are no human rights.

A Gu Master's life is more valuable than a hundred mortals, this is the viewpoint of everybody.

However death and injury would definitely not be little, thus, the village had sounds of crying and sniffing from morning to night.

The village emanated a sense of grief and suppression throughout.

The crippled wolves were only the prelude; the true wolf tide was even more horrifying.

More and more people started to realize that the wolf tide this year, is exceptional.

Under such pressure, the negotiation that had been under a stalemate obtained quick progress, and the three-clan-alliance was formed.

A month later, at the end of winter.

Alliance Slope, Three Clan Alliance Meeting.

Little snowflakes that were like soft white fur slowly drifted down.

Hundreds and thousands of Gu Masters gathered here, forming a grand scale.

The alliance slope was originally an ordinary mountain slope, but throughout history, the Konoha clan's second generation clan head managed to create the first three clan alliances at the slope. Thus forth, all future alliances were held there.

After many years of refinement, the current alliance slope had already expanded tens of times, becoming a giant town square.

The town square was along the mountain wall, and there was a huge rock erected there.

On the huge rock, there were rock carvings of buildings, and in the buildings there was rock furniture properly assembled. The three clan higher-ups were sitting inside, closely discussing.

Below the giant rock building, the three clan's Gu Masters had their respective standings, forming three large groups.

Gu Masters wore similar battle clothing, and along with a belt, their respective cultivation levels were apparent. Yami was within them.

He secretly observed the situation.

The Gu Masters below the stage were all Rank two Gu Masters. Most Rank one Gu Masters were allocated to support, and only Rank two Gu Masters were the true mobile troops. As for Rank three Gu Masters, they were clan elders, and for a mid-size clan like the Konoha clan, even after each generation's effort they only had a little more than twenty clan elders.

Yami was observing, and the other Gu Masters were also watching. Countless gazes intersected with hatred, curiosity, and alertness.

Konoha clan's Gu Masters were on the skinny side. Iwa Clan's Gu Masters were strong and robust, and from appearance their strength could be shown. Kiri Clan's Gu Masters, maybe due to living by the waterfall behind the mountain, had whitish skin and had a Yin aura around them.

"That long hair guy is Hashirama, Rank two peak stage, and is the Konoha clan's number one Rank two Gu Master," some pointed out.

"Hana! Hmph, this wretch caused me to lose an arm. After the wolf tide, I must get revenge!" Someone snorted in their heart.

"Woah, that girl riding on the giant bear, she should be the Iwa Clan's Kurotsuchi. Don't be deceived by her appearance, she goes battle-crazy when fighting."

"Do you see that white fat girl? She's Kiri Clan's Terumi Mei, a Rank two upper stage fighter, who has the Water Boar Gu. She is very promiscuous and very lustful towards men. You newbies be careful, don't get fucked by her."

The three clan's animosity and grudges had long been deep-seated.

Alliance slope's discussion noises became louder as it turned into an uproar. Many Gu Master seniors were pointing around, introducing the strong people from the other two clans to their juniors, reminding them to be careful of them.

"The traditional overlord Konoha clan, the newly rising Kiri Clan, and the never-underestimated Iwa Clan..." Yami's gaze flew across the people as he stood in the crowd, observing the entire situation.

Konoha clan has Hashirama, Torune, Hana; Iwa and Kiri Clan also had their outstanding Rank two elite Gu Masters.

Together with the different clan's heads and elders in the rock building, the alliance slope can be said to be filled with elites.

"I wonder which one is Haku? The man who symbolizes the Kiri Clan's rise!"

"Haku is already Rank three, he is definitely not among the Rank two Gu Masters."

"It seems he isn't in the rock building either."

Gradually, the discussions gathered on Haku.

Although Haku did not appear, his brilliance had already suppressed all the Gu Masters below the rock building.

"I remember that three years ago on the alliance slope, it was Haku who was the first to step out and start the Gu battle. In just three years, he became a Rank three clan elder, thinking about it makes me shudder."

"He rose to heaven in one step. When he was Rank two, he could defeat a clan elder in the Iwa Clan, this guy has a bright future ahead."

"The point is that right now he has already grown up, and at this rate, he can become a Rank four expert and even rank five. As for Rank six..."

"Rank five is mortal, while Rank six is immortal. Rank five is already amazing. Rank six? Hmph, you are all overestimating him..."

"That might not be, who can predict the future?"

Under such discussions, the three clan heads in the rock building stood up, staring down at the thousands of Gu Masters.

Konoha clan head was in the center, Kiri Clan head and Iwa Clan head at his left and right respectively.

The alliance slope gradually quietened down.

Hiruzen Sarutobi held the railings, sweeping a glance at the crowd, before saying, "The three-clan-alliance will pull together in times of trouble. For the Gu battle tournament, in the spirit of competition, competitors shall stop before fatality occurs. Start."


	25. A True Hero Ignores Peer Pressure

**A True Hero Ignores Peer Pressure**

The alliance slope was dead silent. The crowd looked at each other.

The three-clan-alliance would always hold a Gu battle tournament. Not only was it to show off the clan's individual strength, it was also to promote conversation and temporarily alleviate their grudges, to achieve the aims of working together.

But who will stand out first?

If the first Gu Master to stand up failed in public, it would be shameful on their own reputation, and it even shames the clan elders up in the rock building.

Last time, Haku stood up. But this time…...

The crowd continued to hesitate. Suddenly at the Iwa Clan's side, a group of Gu Masters stood first, it was Akatsuchi's group.

Immediately, the group of five invited numerous people's attention and gaze.

The Akatsuchi group walked past the Konoha clan's area, and under everyone's watchful eye, he stood at the Kiri Clan's territory.

"It's Akatsuchi."

"Elemental Mountain's strongest man?"

"That's right. It seems that not too long ago, the Konoha clan's Torune lost to him in public. His title is unmovable, not even Haku can take it away."

"Damn it, the Konoha clan isn't going over, are they trying to bully our Kiri Clan?"

At the Kiri Clan territory, there was a mild disturbance. Many people knew Akatsuchi's strength, and felt a sense of pressure.

But Akatsuchi looked around, and did not move from his spot; instead, Kitsuchi who was beside him stood out.

Kitsuchi had a thin body, and at the Iwa Clan's area with lots of burly men, he was very striking.

He took a few steps forward, facing the Kiri Clan's Gu Masters, cupping his fist, "Iwa Clan Kitsuchi, challenges brother Chojuro."

Once he spoke, astonished noises could be heard below the rock building.

Chojuro's status was around the same as Torune and Akatsuchi etc. Among the Kiri Clan's young Gu Masters, he is only inferior to Haku. For Kitsuchi to challenge him, he was evidently trying to overcome the stronger foe.

But could he?

Chojuro stood up with a grim face. His body was small and his face was pale; he was like a patient who had just recovered from a serious illness, giving off a feeling of being weak and sickly. But no one dared to underestimate him.

"You, Kitsuchi dare to challenge me, you have some courage. How do you want to compete? Say it, I'll accept it," He said to Kitsuchi.

Kitsuchi laughed darkly, "I specialize in defense, and you specialize in attack. How about this, I defend and you attack. I'll give you three attacking opportunities, and we'll compare the results.

This was not a life and death match, it was only sparring.

But Kitsuchi had such confidence, he was obviously prepared, and this caused many people to mutter among themselves.

Chojuro raised his brows, "Kitsuchi, no matter what Gu worm, you are still a Rank two Gu Master, your cultivation is like that. Do you really think you can block my Water Drill Gu? If I injure you, don't complain."

Kitsuchi snickered, "We wouldn't know unless we try right? Come."

Saying so, he activated the Gu in his body and his body changed colour, becoming dry and green like a dead block of wood.

At the same time his teeth turned sharp and long, and four fangs were exposed out of his lips.

His iris also turned green.

This was the Rank two Gu, Roaming Zombie Gu.

Once activated, it could turn one into a zombie.

Compared to living people, zombies are better at resisting punches and kicks and have greater regeneration, but is afraid of fire, lightning and light, although it has greater resistance towards water, wind and poison.

At the same time, zombies when fighting under the sunlight are not as strong as in the night, and thus are weakened by the time of the day.

"Even so, I am not afraid," Chojuro laughed coldly, raising his right arm.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, he gathered his five fingers at one point and contracted his fist.

First, a droplet of water formed on his five fingers, then in the blink of an eye, the droplet expanded, turning into a fast flowing current, and from his fingertips, the water coiled around his palm in a spiral manner.

In two breath's time, Chojuro's fist was already covered by a light-blue colored spiral drill that rotated non-stop.

Rank two Water drill Gu!

Able to drill through rocks and steel with very strong attack power, barely any Gu worm could defend against it.

"Receive my blow," Chojuro coughed, throwing out his fist.

Kitsuchi raised both arms, forming an arm shield.

The water drill hit his arm, and a large amount of water splattered. The two were at a deadlock for a few breaths when suddenly the water drill's rotation intensified, and Kitsuchi flew five to six steps back.

Kitsuchi laid on the ground, but quickly did a belly-flip, standing again.

One could see that the muscles on both his arms were torn by the water drill, showing his pale white bones.

Kiri Clan's Gu Masters upon seeing this scene uncontrollably cheered, but a small number frowned.

"Hehehe..." Kitsuchi laughed slyly, not minding his injury as a zombie; his pain sensors had been reduced to zero.

Chojuro stood on the spot, but suddenly his pale face changed, and he vomited a mouthful of blood.

Kiri Clan Gu Master's cheers ended.

"What happened?!" someone exclaimed.

"It's the Shadow Bond Gu!" Chojuro stared deeply at the ground, where Kitsuchi's shadow was distorted at a creepy angle, pasted on top of the snow. It connected both Kitsuchi and Chojuro together.

"It seems I win, brother Chojuro. With this Shadow Bond Gu, no matter how much injury I suffer, you will take 10% of it. I specialize in defense, but you are a pure attacker, and you have poor health, so even 10% of the damage is deadly to you," Kitsuchi said plainly.

Chojuro wiped the blood traces off his lips, staring deeply at Kitsuchi for a while before saying, "Good. Very good. You planned well with such great tactics. I lost."

He admitted defeat on the spot.

"Too unscrupulous."

"Absolutely cunning and shameless!"

"To think he had a Shadow Bond Gu, senior Chojuro was completely outplayed."

Kiri Clan's Gu Masters exploded into a series of discussions.

Kitsuchi cupped his fist, "I'm flattered. If we really fought, the final winner would still be brother Chojuro. The Shadow Bond Gu's range is limited, it can only bully close-ranged Gu Masters, I hope brother Chojuro can take good care of me in this upcoming wolf tide!"

"Of course." Chojuro's expression softened a little, and nodded.

Kiri Clan's Gu Masters also started to quieten down.

Standing on the rock building, the three clan's higher-ups who had been observing, nodded discreetly at this scene.

The Gu fighting competition was only for sparring and not ruthless assault. Kitsuchi exposing a trump card also increased each other's trust and understanding.

Whether it was Kitsuchi or Chojuro's attitude, they were good.

Resolving it like this, the Kiri Clan's Gu Masters, even if they did not admit it, felt admiration towards Kitsuchi.

After all, the strong were respected.

"Akatsuchi's group had a good start," Hiruzen Sarutobi lightly praised.

"Hehehe." Iwa Clan head beside him laughed lightly, Kitsuchi had given him face.

Kiri Clan head at the other end had a tough expression.

But Akatsuchi's group did not quit while they were ahead, the five left the Kiri Clan's area, and came to the Konoha clan.

"After challenging the Kiri Clan, they are challenging the Konoha clan now?"

"Oh no, Akatsuchi himself is stepping up now!"

Konoha clansmen were slightly nervous, many of their gazes were gathered on Torune, Hana and Hashirama.

But who knew Akatsuchi shouted loudly, "Who is Yami, please stand up. I heard you could chase away the River Swallowing Toad alone, why don't we have a contest of strength!"

Instantly, the crowd exploded.

Akatsuchi stood up, yet he did not challenge Hashirama, Torune or Hana, but instead pointed out a newbie junior.

"Yami? who is Yami?" Some of the other village's Gu Masters had never heard this name before.

"Chasing away the River Swallowing Toad alone, oh my god, that's a Rank five Gu, is he so absurd?" Some shot glances of shock and curiosity.

Konoha clan's Gu Masters took the initiative and opened up a path, and Yami who was among them was exposed.

Without anything hindering their vision, Akatsuchi and Yami stared at each other.

Akatsuchi's lips curled to an angle, saying with a very manly elegance, "I hope Yami would generously teach me."

"This Yami, who in the world is he, he doesn't have three heads or six limbs anyway."

"Chasing away the River Swallowing Toad is also by coincidence and luck, it is nothing hard. Heh, being targeted by this muscled man Akatsuchi, he is in big trouble now."

"Yami, you can't avoid it anymore. Sigh, in that case, just hope for the best and go ahead and battle!" Torune sighed in his heart.

"Oh, is that so..." Yami shrugged with a plain expression, "Then I admit defeat."

The moment he said so, the crowd all went dumbfounded.

Admit defeat…..

Yami's words were still lingering in the crowd's ears.

Instantly, almost all the Rank two Gu Masters below the rock building looked at Yami with surprise.

Yami ignored them; he held his arms and stood on the spot with an indifferent expression.

"Admit defeat? He directly admitted defeat, did I hear that wrongly?"

"He is Yami? He doesn't even have the guts to come out, haha."

"We recognize Akatsuchi's power, he is indeed strong. But even if you want to admit defeat, at least do that after the formalities. By directly admitting defeat, he is not only showing that he is a coward, he is even tarnishing the clan."

The whispers were like ripples in a calm lake.

The Gu Masters' gazes turned from surprise to despise, scorn and gloating.

Many Konoha clan Gu Masters felt unease; the gazes from the Iwa and Kiri Clan's Gu Masters were like invisible needles, piercing their self-esteem.

Yami was a member of the Konoha clan, with him directly admitting defeat, this made them feel absolutely humiliated.

"How could you admit defeat? Yami, you are a man of Konoha Village, stand up and fight bravely with Akatsuchi!"

"Even if you lost, it wouldn't be anything serious."

"If you don't even have the guts to go out, then that would really be throwing away our dignity!"

Some Konoha clan Gu Masters shouted and urged Yami to take the challenge.

Yami was indifferent; to him, these words were like dogs barking.

The so-called name, face and honor was only a pie painted on a paper; shackles used by the higher-ups to bind the organization members.

These Gu Masters were also dogs on a leash.

Akatsuchi gazed at Yami and suddenly laughed, "I am truly disappointed. Is this what Konoha Village's bravery looks like?"

Konoha clan Gu Masters looked unsightly when they heard this.

Hoots of laughter came from Iwa Village's side, and even Kiri Village's Gu Masters looked at Konoha clan with mockery.

The people around Yami started moving away. Everyone made some distance from him; their faces were filled with embarrassment.

Soon, there was no one within five steps from Yami.

Yami stood alone. My way or the highway, his expression was calm as opposed to the surroundings.

Others fancied a courageous reputation, but Yami scoffed at it. This made others loathe him.

Because Yami loathed fame, he was rejecting the society's values. Denying this system of values was rejecting the people who lived their lives following these values.

Others naturally wouldn't deny their own values, otherwise they would feel that they were living in a wrong way. Thus, they had subconsciously started to reject and boycott Yami.

A weak-hearted person would be defeated by such rejection and they would change themselves to suit the public.

However, Yami needed such rejection. He had too many secrets on him and so he needed to be solitary. At the same time, these people weren't worth being friends with. In his memories, Elemental Mountain's three villages barely survived the wolf tide, but the accident two years later would totally destroy them and turn the entire Elemental Mountain into a desolate area.

What Yami needed was to use this time to improve himself as much as possible, then leave the clan and avoid the fatal disaster.

Hashirama - the number one Rank two Gu Master in the Konoha Clan - couldn't help but stand up seeing this situation.

"Akatsuchi, how about sparring with me?"

"Hehe, what will we compete on?" Akatsuchi was smiling, but his expression was serious.

Hashirama didn't look at Akatsuchi; he slightly raised his palm and silently moved his primeval essence, his eye watchfully looked at the green vine that was slowly growing out from his palm.

He calmly said, "Let's compete on your strength. If you can break away from my green vine's binding, I will admit defeat. Is that okay?"

"Hehe, good suggestion, let's do it that way." Akatsuchi grinned, his eyes revealing a bright light.

He inwardly thought, I already have the strength of a bear and combining it with the strength-increase from Grand Bear Gu, I possess the strength of two bears. Although green vine is tough, I have absolute guarantee of breaking it away with the strength of two bears. Kitsuchi won against Chojuro and if I defeat Hashirama, it would give us great reputation!

Hashirama gently smiled. Without speaking, he extended his two hands; two green vines grew out from his palms. Like two nimble green pythons, the two vines climbed up Akatsuchi and twisted around his body.

Akatsuchi's hands were at his waist; the green vines coiled around both his arms and instantly made a dozen circles around them, tightly binding his hands with his back.

The Gu Masters on the scene couldn't take their eyes off this contest.

"Please." Hashirama said to Akatsuchi.

Akatsuchi opened his eyes. He tightly clenched his fists and started putting strength.

Every muscle on his body seemed to stand out like lumps on a huge rock.

Strength of a bear!

Boom.

The green vines started to snap under his enormous strength.

"Hahaha, brother Hashirama, it seems the winner of this contest belongs to me!" Akatsuchi was using his strength to break free, but he still had enough energy to make a conversation.

"Senior Hashirama…." Naruto was nervous and his hands were sweating

The other Konoha clan's Gu Masters were also the same. Hashirama was the number one among them and if he lost the contest, the Konoha Clan would have thoroughly lost their face this time!

"Not necessarily." Hashirama smiled, his eyes showing confidence.

When he finished speaking, the green vines on his hands started changing. The originally green-like jade color suddenly changed to a dark green color. At the same time, the vines also became thicker and green wide leaves started growing on it.

Akatsuchi's face changed, he sensed the green vine's coiling strength had increased by more than ten times.

What made him more apprehensive was that those green vines which he had broken away from started growing and reconnected with the broken areas.

Grand Bear Gu!

He sensed the situation going bad and immediately used the Grand Bear Gu in his aperture.

Immediately, his hair started stiffening up like steel needles. The muscles on his whole body enlarged and he seemed to have become much taller and bulkier.

Strength of two bears!

The green vines gave creaking noises but it was still able to resist this terrifying strength, firmly confining Akatsuchi.

Akatsuchi's face became very red, and he brought out all his strength to break the green vines. But finally, he was only able to snap one green vine and couldn't continue anymore.

"I lost." He released the supporting strength of Grand Bear Gu and said while gasping.

"You let me win." Hashirama cupped his hands and retrieved the green vines.

"Senior Hashirama, you are the best." Konoha Clan's Gu Masters were jubilant.

"Senior Hashirama really deserves his name. Big brother can't compare to him at all." Naruto stood beside Hashirama and looked at the latter with reverence.

Akatsuchi's gaze was complicated as he looked at Hashirama. He had progressed and obtained Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu, but Hashirama had also progressed. Although he didn't know what the latter used, but this was his true rival. As for that Yami, he was only a newbie and was nothing to worry about.

"It really is the Wood Charm Gu," Yami thought as he observed Hashirama from afar.

Akatsuchi hadn't discovered anything when facing Hashirama. Two emerald-green leaves had grown on Hashirama's hair.

This was the sign of using the Wood Charm Gu.

The so-called Wood Charm was a tree spirit.

Using the Wood Charm Gu could let one battle as a tree spirit.

The tree spirit was an unusual creature. It could directly absorb the natural essence in the air and use it.

Gu Masters couldn't do this, they could only use the primeval essence in their aperture.

When one used the Wood Charm gu, they could become an embodiment of a Wood Charm tree spirit and would be able to directly absorb the natural essence in the air and replenish their primeval essence. It was the same as absorbing the primeval essence from primeval stones.

When normal Gu Masters battle, they are unable to divide their mind and absorb primeval essence from primeval stones while fighting.

But as an embodiment of the tree spirit, the absorption of natural essence is an instinct and does not need one to divide their minds. This meant that the Gu Masters who used Wood Charm Gu were experts in war of attrition. Although one couldn't say that they could use the natural essence endlessly, they could fight for as much as three times longer because of the continuous replenishment.

And once one became an embodiment of the tree spirit, Gu worms like Green Vine Gu and Pine Needle Gu would also have their strength amplified.

Yami instantly connected the dots, "Wood Charm Gu's fusion advancement can be said to be one of the most extravagant advancement routes. It is a Rank three Gu and needs to fuse with a hundred-years Lifespan Gu to advance to a Rank four hundred-years Wood Charm gu. The hundred-years Wood Charm Gu needs to fuse with a thousand years Lifespan Gu to advance into a Rank five thousand-years Wood Charm gu. Everyone knows this fusion route, but Gu Masters rarely use this recipe. The reason is due to the preciousness of the Lifespan Gu. When the Gu Masters finds Lifespan Gu, they will usually use it directly to increase their own lifespan."

In this world, a human could live for at most a hundred years if they didn't encounter any accidents or illnesses. A hundred years was the lifespan limit of the humans.

But a Lifespan Gu can increase lifespan.

A hundred years Lifespan Gu can increase the lifespan of a person by a hundred years and a thousand years Lifespan Gu could increase it by a thousand.

Lifespan Gu were extremely rare and everyone sought after them.

Yami had lived for five hundred years in his previous life because he used five hundred-year Lifespan Gu in his previous life, thus adding five hundred years to his lifespan — his one hundred years lifespan had turned to six hundred years. But in the end halfway through, he was attacked by the righteous factions and had no choice but to self-detonate and die.

Lifespan Gu represented 'long life' and could let people live for long, but it didn't mean 'undying'.

"The Wood Charm Gu is powerful but has its weakness; Gu Masters can't use it for a long period. If they use it for too long, the Wood Charm Gu's strength will affect their body and will transform their body to that of wood, finally changing the body into a wooden corpse. In my previous life, Hashirama had died in this way."

Thinking of this, Yami's eyes flashed.

Ordinarily, powerful Gu worms had huge side effects and needed to be used with other Gu worms. Otherwise, there would be harmful influences on the Gu Masters' body.

Kitsuchi's Roaming Zombie Gu was best used with the Bloodline gu. If not, the blood in his body would decrease when used for too long and he would change into a true zombie.

The Akatsuchi group returned to their camp. They first won against Chojuro, then met defeat against Hashirama. Even so, the group still received a lot of applause and praises.

"Hana, I challenge you."

"Come, Kurotsuchi, I will fight you!"

After the Akatsuchi group, the whole scene suddenly became noisy. Many Gu Masters continuously came out and challenged the powerful opponents in their minds, demonstrating their bravery.

The Alliance slope turned chaotic, and all kinds of brilliant and varied Gu battles were occurring.

The true Gu battle had started.

Only until evening did the Gu tournament come to an end.

On the alliance slope, the Gu Masters from all three clans were no longer as divided as earlier. Gu Masters plastered the slope and only three densely packed groups could be vaguely seen remaining.

Gu battle sparring was both a form of venting and also compromise.

In this world where the greatest value is strength, only with strength comes respect, and that forms the basis for cooperation.

After Akatsuchi challenged Yami, no one else came to look for him.

Yami was only a newbie and did not have much interactions with the other two clan's Gu Masters, not to mention any animosity. As for his own clansmen, they would not challenge someone from their own clan in this situation.

Especially after Yami admitting defeat, it caused other Gu Masters to lose interest in him. Towards this 'lazy', 'cowardly' opponent, what value is there in winning?

Not wanting to be trampled on, there are two ways. One is to become strong, strong until no one dares to step on you. Another is to turn into dog shit, something no one would want to step on.

Yami did not care about dog shit, or the reputation of the strong. He always acted unscrupulous, and only cared about the results. Without anyone challenging him, it made his life easier.

The surrounding people's contempt and disdain, he treated it like air. If he could not endure even these gazes, what right did he have to pursue the demonic way?


	26. A True Hero Isn't Restricted By Morals

**A True Hero Isn't Restricted By Morals And Emotions**

The alliance gathering ended successfully, and Konoha clan, Kiri Clan, and Iwa Clan all reached an agreement.

First, declaring the rules. The three clans will temporarily put aside their grudges and resist the wolf tide together. In times of danger, they will assist each other. At the same time, internal killing is prohibited, and an investigating battle group will be set up. Once they find any murders, the murderer will first be chased out of the clan, then the three clans will bring judgement together, making them pay with their lives. If the murderer escapes outside, their families' lives will be forfeited.

Even if the Gu Master dies, Gu worms retrieved from their corpses have to be given to the clan, and if it is used secretly, they will be charged with murder. After the Gu worm is submitted, they can exchange it for merit points.

Secondly, setting up the battle merit board. With a small group as a unit, every moment will be showing the battle achievements of the groups from all three clans and their rankings. A lightning wolf's eyeball is exchanged for ten merit points. Merit points can be used to exchange for Gu worms, primeval stones, and other resources.

The appearance of the battle merit board naturally inspired the hot bloodedness of the Gu Masters.

The result of the Gu battle sparring could not explain the true strength of both parties in actual combat. For example in the case of Kitsuchi and Chojuro, other than the Water Drill Gu, Chojuro naturally had other attacking methods, but Kitsuchi's Shadow Bond Gu only had an effective range of ten meters.

Furthermore, the results of any battle are swayed by many external factors.

Gu battle sparring lacked a convincing element, which the battle merit board can provide as a fairer method of competition.

The Gu Masters from the three clans wasted no time in hunting lightning wolves, fighting for a better ranking on the battle merit board.

This was not just for one's own glory, but also for the reputation of the clan.

Especially the top three positions in the merit board, it showed intense competition. Almost every day, the top three would have some sort of change.

Very quickly, a month passed.

Winter left and spring came, causing all living beings to grow once more.

After a battle.

Yami stepped on the remaining snow, regulating his breathing as well as observing the battlefield around him.

On the battlefield, there were over ten lightning wolves, all dead. Wolf blood and minced corpse could be seen everywhere, and the air emanated a smell of thick blood.

Howl…...

At this point, wolf cries could be heard from a distance not too far away.

Yami's expression changed slightly. With his experience, he knew that a pack of wolves were heading this way rapidly.

If it was any other Gu Master, after an intense battle, without enough primeval essence in their aperture, they might have thoughts of retreating. But Yami did not care about this; he squatted down and began to gather the eyeballs from the wolf corpses.

His movements were fluid and highly efficient, but even so, after he was done extracting, he was already half-surrounded by the wolf pack.

This was a mid-sized wolf pack with around one hundred crippled wolves, their greenish wolf eyes showing a ruthless expression as they stared at Yami firmly.

Yami kept the wolf eyes well before standing up with a smile. Next, his body flickered like water ripples, and he vanished on the spot.

The wolf pack that had come to assault him were instantly riled up, and some of the crippled wolves stood in their tracks, showing a hesitant feeling.

After all they were wild beasts. Seeing such a magical scene, it was hard to comprehend.

"But, this is also because the lightning wolf king uses its wolf eyes to observe, and not its nose. Lightning wolves are fantastical creatures of this world; their vision is sharp like an eagle, but their sense of smell is no better from humans. My Stealth Scales Gu counters these lightning wolves perfectly, but it cannot hide from a dog's nose." Yami was clear in his heart.

Stealth Scales Gu was successfully refined by him before the Gu battle tournament. It was like a fossilised carp, grey throughout, lying in Yami's primeval sea, letting the liquid essence flow around its very realistic fish scales.

The Fish Scale Gu that Yami lacked was naturally obtained by trading the Black Boar Gu with Hashirama.

With this Stealth Scales Gu, Yami could retreat from under the lightning wolves' nose.

In these few days, this situation had already occurred many times.

Normally, wolves or hounds had very sensitive noses. But lightning wolves were different — they were very fast, but without clear vision, they would knock into a tree or the mountain rocks.

But nature is fair, as when it bestowed the lightning wolves with its sharp vision, it also took away their sense of smell.

However, the lightning crown wolf was different.

Even with the Stealth Scales Gu, Yami could travel freely among the normal wolf tide, but in front of a myriad beast king like the lightning crown wolf, he had nowhere to hide.

That is because the lightning crown wolf's eyes had the Lightning Eye Gu residing in it — this Gu allowed the ability to see through all sorts of cloaking.

Other than the Lightning Eye Gu, there are actually also many other Gu worms that can detect the stealthed Yami.

For example, the Snake Communication Gu, it can detect heat. The Beast Language Gu can allow a Gu Master and wild beasts to converse and obtain information. The clairaudience Gu can allow a Gu Master's hearing to be extremely sensitive.

Thus, even with the Stealth Scales Gu, it did not mean Yami was completely safe, but it was at most a good life-saving trump card.

When he returned to the village, it was still afternoon.

The day in spring was bright and beautiful, and there were many people passing in and out of the village door. What was different from previous years was that people on the road were mostly Gu Masters, while there were very little mortals.

Under the influence of the wolf tide, the wilderness was not safe. Hunters did not dare to hunt in the mountains, and farms were almost abandoned.

On the streets, Gu Masters were high in morale, each returning with blood traces all over, or enthusiastically leaving.

They were either talking about the battle merit board's ranking, or discussing their experiences in killing the lightning wolves. Some were talking about the well-performing Gu Masters from the other villages.

Yami was among the crowd that walked into the village, and he went to the village square in front of the family head pavillion.

The square already had a stage; the merit points were exchanged here.

A large amount of Gu Masters gathered here, and Rank one Gu Masters were doing administrative work. Some Rank two Gu Masters squeezed around, using the bloodstained wolf eyes to exchange for merit points.

There was also a portion of them that were using their merit points to exchange for primeval stones, Gu worms or food ingredients, etc.

In the middle of the village square, a large banner was erected, and on it there was the written language of this world; it was constantly changing.

This is the battle merit board, and on it there are over a dozen Swimword Gu.

Rank one Swimword Gu, after being manipulated by Rank one support Gu Masters, can freely convert the contents of the writings on the banner.

"Hmph, why is the #1 still the Kiri Clan's Chojuro's group?" Some stared at the battle merit board, frowning.

"Let me see, Chojuro is #1, our clan's Hashirama group is #2, and Akatsuchi group is #3, my group is the 137th." A Gu Master counted.

This time, someone suddenly said, "It changed, it changed! Hashirama group is now #1. They pushed Kiri Clan's Chojuro to #2!"

On the battle merit board, the symbol showing the second ranking Hashirama group suddenly moved, crawling its way upwards and pulling the Chojuro group down with its "hands", ascending the position of number one itself, even using its "leg" to trample around.

Such a human reaction, it was naturally due to the Gu Master manipulating the Swimword Gu.

Seeing this interesting change, the Gu Masters in the village square laughed heartily, pointing a thumbs up towards Hashirama's group, praising nonstop. The Rank one Gu Master controlling the Swimword Gu had a red face as he showed an expression of excitement.

"Lord Hashirama, you are indeed our number one Rank two Gu Master!"

"Good job, Lord Hashirama."

Hashirama walked among the crowd, smiling faintly. Naruto Uzumaki who was behind him clenched both fists, following closely with an excited expression on his face.

The praises from all over the square filled the young man's strong materialistic desire. This made Naruto feel like he was walking on a bright path, unknowingly increasing his recognition towards the clan.

"Big brother..." He saw Yami standing among the crowd, observing with his arms folded.

"Big brother, you are still alone, all by yourself. No wonder you have been at the bottom of the ranking every since the start. Only by removing your prejudice and fusing into the masses can you feel the warmth and happiness of the clan," Naruto sighed, feeling that Yami was somewhat pitiful and pathetic.

People who were like Yami, always fighting alone without any companions, could not feel any kinship from the clan or friendship forged from fighting together with your teammates.

Facing everything alone is not only dangerous, but mundane.

A person living without friendship, love or kinship, what is the meaning of being alive?

Yami stood among the crowd, staring at the tall merit board. Without doubt, the last position on the ranking was written in large letters —"Yami Group".

Other Gu Masters upon seeing this, felt extremely shameful, but Yami's gaze was calm, not minding it one bit.

After being promoted to group leader, he had never recruited any members. He was a loner group leader, the most special group in the entire Elemental Mountain's three clans.

With only him alone, of course his daily hunting results could not compare to other groups. Of course, with Yami's current abilities, if he tried hard he would definitely not be last place.

But this was pointless to Yami.

He did not need much merit points, living resources or Gu worm's food, he had stock for everything. He had planned to exchange for a Fish Scales Gu earlier, but now he no longer needed to.

Right now he was hunting lightning wolves daily just to put on a show to fulfill the quota, and secondly accumulate some merit points to exchange for moon orchid petals.

After all, his Moonglow Gu needed this food.

Half a month soon passed, and the spring atmosphere intensified.

Trees started to grow leaves, and wildflowers on the roadside bloomed.

Under the warm spring winds, Gu Masters sang in battle, and the battle situation was getting better and better.

Yami walked on the pavement, seeing everyone's happy faces, their exchanges of praise over courageous acts and the likes.

Of course, there were also some Gu Masters who were in deep worry, showing an unhappy expression. These Gu Masters were mostly the elderly, as with their rich life experiences, they knew that the real wolf tide was coming in summer and autumn.

Yami realized in his heart.

"What caused this current situation is due to the three-clan alliance, thus people have reduced their caution of each other, and this enabled Gu Masters to be more invested in resisting the wolf tide. Secondly, the lightning wolves exterminated were only the crippled wolves. Thirdly, with the coming of spring, many wolves are busy mating. When summer comes, the truly energetic and healthy wolves would attack from all directions, causing great damage and deaths to the three clans."

Thinking of this, Yami's eyes shone with cold light.

In this year's wolf tide, the intensity was like never before, it reached a danger level that was unforeseen. Even the clan higher-ups greatly underestimated the severity of this wolf tide.

In his memory, most of the Gu Masters died, and the trump cards of the three clans were nearly fully expended.

Yami had never thought of warning the higher-ups. One is that even if he did, they might not listen to his suggestion, and even emphasize on where he got the information, which he is unable to explain. Secondly, there was no point in telling them, it is a fundamental difference in strength. Thirdly, and the most crucial reason, warning the clan did not fit his biggest interest!

I would rather let the world down, than be let down by the world!

What kinship, friendship, love - these are but an ornament in life, how can they compare to a man's great ambition?

From the Shinobi World, Mu wanted to cook Gengetsu's father, and the Second Mizukage Gengetsu even laughed and said, "Go ahead, but don't forget to give me a piece of meat."

Otsutsuki Toneri killing his brothers, the Suna Daimyo's army having no rations and cooking people to turn them into dried meat as food. Tenji borrowing the Land Of Ancestors but never returning.

The higher-ups praised the values and morals, but those are just tools to maintain their rule.

If one is restrained by these, how can they achieve anything?

Those who step into upper society, who does not have bloodstained hands, stepping on corpses along the way? A capitalist's initial startup fund, the process is always bloody. Any politician's hands are dirty, and the so-called philanthropists are merely using money to gain recognition in society.

It is just that the successful are apt in hiding their past acts, and those who believe the stories of the successors are truly fools.

"These fools are everywhere, restrained by emotions and morals, they deserve to be stupidly manipulated by rules. What's sadder is that when they see others not being restrained, they would jump out and criticise, trying to impart these morals to the people, not allowing others to have more freedom than them. In this process, they would even enjoy this ridiculous moral superiority and bliss."

Thinking of this, Yami looked at the Gu Masters walking past him.

These people, they had a body full of abilities, and some even had higher cultivation than him, but for what?

They are just pawns, merely restrained dogs.

What truly stalls a person's success is not talent, but mindset.

Any organisation, once a person is born, would impart their morals and rules, constantly brainwashing. Those that want to surpass humanity's achievements have to break this restraint on their mindset. Sadly, most people are trapped by this their entire lives, using this to move forward with motivation and even use their chained collar as a symbol of pride.

Thinking so, Yami laughed coldly.

Walking out of the village door, he retracted his thoughts.

There was something important today, he was preparing to enter the rock crack's secret cave again!


	27. Your Comrades Are Always Dependable

**Your Comrades Are Always Dependable**

A faint red glow pervaded the stone forest, the petrified growths sprouting out from the ceiling towards the ground like upside-down trees. It was a sight to see.

"It has been over a month since I last came here." Yami thought helplessly.

After the three clans united, they had commenced a crusade to continuously eliminate the surrounding wolf packs. Because the of the constant traffic for the war effort, Gu Masters made up an almost ever-present flow moving nearby the stone crack cave. In such a situation, even if Yami possessed Stealth Scales Gu, there was a danger of exposing himself.

Despite the risk, Yami was very careful in the way he did things. Five hundred years worth of life experience had nurtured enough patience in him; he kept reign over his desires and made sure not to make movements around the stone cave during this period.

When spring came, the crippled wolves had been successfully rooted out and there were few Gu Masters left roaming around. Only then was he willing and Yami circled around the village before using the Stealth Scales Gu to come back.

A month had passed by, allowing some stone monkey groups to repopulate and they had moved to the stone pillars he had cleared before.

Fortunately, the number were quite few.

Yami spent some time killing the monkey groups and advancing towards the central area of the stone forest.

Under the shadow of the huge stone pillar, an obvious artificial cave entrance appeared before his eyes.

Some crude rock stairs extended downwards from the cave mouth into the darkness.

Yami used the White Jade Gu to cover his whole body with a layer of faint jade light and carefully descended down the stairs.

His left hand held a fire torch, whereas bright moonlight shone on his right palm — The Moonglow Gu was already activated.

It was completely dark underground and even the fire torch could only illuminate five steps ahead.

An illumination-type Gu would be a lot helpful in such situations. Unfortunately Yami was not so affluent.

Step by step, he walked on for a long while before reaching the end of the stairs.

A crude artificial stone door was in front of him.

"Golden Centipede's cave is precarious, Earth Communication is the way to avoid the disaster." Yami lifted his fire torch which illuminated some characters carved on the stone door.

Earth communication…...

Golden Centipede…..

Yami's eyes gleamed, comprehending the meaning.

"If this is what I think it is..." He crouched down and touched the ground; the soil was wet.

"There's something." He was happy. He began to dig the soil and indeed, he found an Earth Treasury Flower.

He carefully uncovered the petals and took out a Gu worm from the heart of the flower.

This was a special Gu.

It resembled a human ear, but much smaller. It was yellowish-brown, and looked shrivelled and dull.

He felt it in his palm; it was shrivelled like marinated radish and carried some warmth. Dozens of roots like the ginseng roots grew out from its sides.

This was a Rank two grass Gu — Earth Communication Ear Grass.

Looking at the Earth Communication Ear Grass, Yami's gaze flashed.

This Earth Communication Ear Grass's usage was to scout. It had appeared in a great time and was perfect for Yami.

Earth Communication Ear Grass had a great advantage; it could scout up to three hundred paces. This range was among the best of Rank two investigative Gu worms.

It was easy to feed too. Its food was the ginseng roots.

There were many forested mountains in the Southern Border. There were far more ginsengs here than in Earth. Hunter families would occasionally pick some when they went to hunt in the mountains.

Especially when ginseng is easy to store; as long as it is completely dried and sealed up properly, it could be kept for a long time under room temperature.

Moon orchid petals wilted in a few days, but ginseng could be stored for a long time.

"Gu worms need to be nurtured, used and refined. These three aspects are broad and has many mysteries within them. Earth Communication Ear Grass is easy to nurture, but using it is rather troublesome," Yami pondered. He held the Earth Communication Ear Grass and poured primeval essence, instantly refining it.

Earth Communication Ear Grass was very outstanding and could compare with many Rank three investigative Gu worms. However, heaven was fair, and using the Earth Communication Ear Grass didn't end with just refining, it still needed a certain price.

Just like the Zombie Gu and Wood Charm Gu which needed to be used with other Gu worms,, there was a consequence. If used for a long time, the Gu Master's body would slowly corrode and turn into a true zombie or tree man.

"Many Gu worms can't be used by merely refining them, they still need some special prerequisites. This Earth Communication Flesh Ear Gu is also the same. By using it to ascertain the situation, I can truly move about freely in the wolf tide and even achieve some of my goals during this wolf tide….."

Yami pondered for a while and decided to use this Earth Communication Flesh Ear Gu.

As the gains would be greater than losses, even if he had to pay the price, it was nothing for the sake of his future.

"No matter which world, how could one gain anything without paying a price?" Yami coldly smiled and put the Earth Communication Ear Grass in his aperture.

He gazed at the stone door deeply then turned around and left.

If he didn't guess wrong, there would be a great danger in the other side of the stone door. Only by using the Earth Communication Ear Grass, could he be able to avoid it.

Yami exited the secret cave and leisurely circled the village; after making several rounds, hunting several lone wolves and taking their eyeballs, he returned.

He was still the last in the battle merit board. As he walked through the street, the Gu Masters who recognized him laughed at him or threw a contemptuous look.

Yami didn't care and still went his own way.

After several days, he used small battle merits to exchange for ginseng roots, properly feeding the Earth Communication Ear Grass and recovering its vitality.

Most of the clan's attention was on the wolf tide, no one paid attention to Yami. If it was before, Uncle and Aunt might have brought him some troubles, but they had made no more movements ever since Yami sold the family assets to them.

Difficult to do openly, easy to do secretly.

Soon, Yami smoothly completed some preparations in the dark.

Tonight, the moon was bright and stars were few.

The moon hung high above like a jade plate and the gentle darkness of the night was like a yarn, covering Elemental Mountain.

From time to time, wolf howls could be faintly heard from afar.

Yami securely closed the door and windows. He stood inside his rented room, his whole body naked. There was a table in front of him and a basin filled with warm water was laid on it. Beside the washbasin was a white towel and a sharp dagger on top.

Even the floor he was standing on was covered with a layer of thick cloth.

Strands of moonlight passed through the cracks in the windows and shone upon the table.

Yami's expression was indifferent as he grabbed the dagger. The dagger was sharp and had a cold shine to it. It could even be used as a mirror.

Under the faint light, the young man's indifferent face was reflected on the dagger.

Right now, Yami couldn't help but think of a martial arts skill book from Earth called the Sacred Sunflower Scroll.

The first sentence in the first page of Sacred Sunflower Scroll was 'Castrate yourself to train this skill."

One needed to give up or pay something if they wanted to receive quick strength!

So what if you needed to castrate yourself?

If you don't have such ruthless decisiveness and aren't willing to let go, how could you accomplish your ambitions and become a lord ruling over everything?

Wanting to receive without paying anything was only fairytales to deceive children.

Back to Yami's current state, to use this Earth Communication Ear Grass, the price he needed to pay couldn't amount to anything.

Thinking of this, Yami coldly smiled.

He used his fingers to lightly caress the cold blade and softly hummed—

Moon like the frost-filled night, the dagger shines with a cold light.

If not for the harshness of the winter, how could we look forward to spring!

He quickly moved his hand.

The hand rose and the dagger fell; blood burst out.

A piece of flesh fell on the table—

Yami had cut apart his whole right ear and blood was spurting out of it.

He first felt a little cool before an intense burst of pain suddenly attacked him.

He gritted his teeth and sucked in breath through his teeth. He resisted the pain and called out Earth Communication Ear Grass from his aperture.

He had nurtured this Earth Communication Ear Grass back to its full vitality. It was now completely different from how it looked back when he just got it.

Back when he had taken it out of the Earth Treasury Flower, it was shrivelled and dull. Now, it was plump and warm; fat and big and had grown up to an adult palm size.

It was highly elastic and resembled the Buddha's drooping ear of Earth.

Yami pressed the Earth Communication Flesh Ear Gu on his wound at the right side of his head and immediately poured red steel primeval essence towards it.

The Earth Communication Flesh Ear Gu's roots immediately came to life and rapidly began to grow, taking root in Yami's wound.

Another burst of pain came!

Yami felt like dozens of earthworms were drilling towards his brain from his wound.

This feeling was painful and also nauseating.

Generally speaking, Gu Masters would use some Gu worms to numb their nerves in this stage. But Yami wasn't in that situation and could only rely on his iron willpower to forcefully endure it.

In the end, his body was that of a youth's, and Yami who endured this pain couldn't help but feel his body starting to sway.

More and more roots extended, entered his wound. Slowly, the Earth Communication Ear Grass glued together with the bloody wound, becoming Yami's new right ear.

Finally, there was no more blood flowing out of the wound, there wasn't even a scar.

However, Yami's face was pale; the pain had only slightly decreased, it was still tormenting him.

Veins bulged out from his head and his heart thumped rapidly.

At this stage, Yami was already finished for the most part, but some time was still necessary for his body to adapt to the Earth Communication Ear Grass.

He picked up a mirror and looked at it under the faint moonlight.

He saw his pale face and frowning brows in the mirror. His right ear was bigger than his left by over two times and looked like a deformity.

Yami didn't mind it; after looking at the mirror for a moment and seeing no problems, he felt satisfied.

He put the mirror down and picked up the towel. He dipped the towel in the warm water in the basin and wiped the bloodstains on his body.

He had no clothes on, so it was very easy to clean the bloodstains. Some blood had flowed down his foot but were absorbed by the cotton cloth spread on the floor.

Yami cleaned the bloodstains, then picked up his right ear from the table.

He coldly snorted, then used the Moonglow Gu, slicing his own right ear into meat paste and completely destroying it.

Yami held the basin filled with the watery blood and put it under the bed before throwing a piece of coal in it.

Only after doing all this did Yami lay down on the bed.

The pain had weakened for the most part but was still tormenting him.

Yami felt the pain in his head along with his heartbeat.

He did not know how much time had passed, but he finally fell into a deep sleep.

When Yami woke up, it was already noon of the second day.

His headache was gone, and the intense pain had vanished completely.

He touched his ear subconsciously, the sense of touch no different from before. It was as if the cutting of his ear never happened last night.

He climbed down from his bed, finding a mirror to look at himself.

In the mirror, a young man's face was shown; he was not handsome, but his dark abyss-like iris, made him stand out from mortals, showing a special unique coolness and charisma.

The young man's ears were the same as any others.

Last night, when he planted the Earth Communication Ear Grass, Yami's right ear was plump and big, his ear drooping till it nearly reached his chin. But now it was completely normal from appearance, there was nothing different.

This is because his body and the Earth Communication Ear Grass had gotten used to each other.

Yami's thought moved, and from his aperture a little red steel primeval essence flowed along his body, moving up towards his right ear.

At once, his hearing improved multiple times, and numerous footsteps could be heard.

Although he was on the second floor, he had a feeling of stepping on earth.

Yami paid attention and listened as his primeval essence continued to be used, and his hearing improved as well. In the mirror, roots started to grow out of his ear.

These roots were like the roots of a thousand year ginseng, extending from his ear towards the outside, constantly growing longer and moving towards the ground.

At the same time, his right ear had the notion of becoming fatter.

Yami stopped using the Earth Communication Ear Grass, and a second later, the roots growing out of his ears retracted, and his right ear became normal again.

Of course, his hearing also went back to its initial state.

"This way, I have a recon-type Gu." Yami wore his upper shirt, taking out a water basin from under his bed.

Last night, the bloody water had turned into blackish dirty water due to the charcoal tossed in. The bloody towel submerged within was the same as well. There was still some white in the red colour initially, but now it was all covered by the black soot. It was easy to make people assume that it was a cloth for wiping grease in the kitchen.

This basin when brought out, even if it was poured in front of someone, nobody would notice.

Summer was coming, and many clansmen were trying to clean the stove that they used in winter. Often they would end up with a basin of dirty water just like this.

While the iron was still hot, Yami entered the rock crack secret cave again.

This time, he did not enter empty-handed, but caught a deerling outside and tied its four limbs together. He used a steel contraption to bind its mouth, and then used the Stealth Scales Gu to hide his presence and brought it to the rock door.

He did not open the door in a hurry, but activated the Earth Communication Ear Grass.

The roots extended from his ear, and his hearing ability amplified.

Dongdongdong…...

Firstly, he heard a light sound, the sound of slow heartbeat.

As the roots grew longer, the heartbeat became louder, and the sources of sound also increased.

Yami did not need to think to realize that these heartbeats were coming from the jade eye stone monkeys in the rock forest.

His shut his eye and he could imagine in his head, the owners of these sounds hiding in their caves, curling into a ball and sleeping.

But this was not what he wanted to find out.

He continued listening, his right ear already becoming slightly fat, the ginseng limbs growing out of his ear almost half a metre long, the roots having sentience. They extended to the rock door, and stabbed in rather shallowly.

At this moment, Yami felt that his hearing had a gigantic boost.

With him as center, he could hear the numerous noises of a three hundred step radius!

This was the Earth Communication Ear Grass' true usage; what he did in the village was merely a test.

If the Earth Communication Ear Grass' roots did not touch the ground, for a Rank two recon Gu, it was at a very average level. But once the roots are in the ground, its range would drastically improve.

This was understandable.

On earth, the theory was that sound travels at a speed related to its intermediary. Sound in the earth or in water, the speed of transmission was far greater than through air.

In the shinobi world, some soldiers in war when sleeping, would use a wooden quiver as their pillow. Once enemies attack, the soldiers would hear the noise from the earth and be awakened in time. If they waited for sound to travel by air, they would not have time to react.

The roots grew into the rock door, and Yami could instantly hear the commotion behind it.

It was a very scrambled and confusing noise, but very frequent. Compared to this noise, the stone monkeys' heartbeat was like the sound of drums.

If a newbie was using this Earth Communication Ear Grass for the first time, upon hearing this they would be thinking of all the possible guesses. But to Yami, this noise was expected, and he only listened for a while before frowning.

He pushed open the rock door.

The rock door was heavy, but with his strength of two boars now, it was easy.

The rock door opened, and a dark long tunnel appeared in front of him, stretching on at a straight line, towards the unknown.

Yami untied the deer he had caught, and tossed it into the tunnel.

The deerling was very smart. Sensing the dangers of the dark path ahead, it did not dare to move forward. Its huge eyes stared at Yami, showing fear and a begging intention.

Yami snorted and threw a moonblade.

This moonblade was controlled to be small, slicing vertically and inflicting a light wound on the deerling's body.

The blood gushed out from its wound, and under the pain, the deerling's fear towards Yami won and it rushed into the dark tunnel.

Darkness soon engulfed it.

Yami activated the Earth Communication Ear Grass again, this time the roots grew into the walls.

His hearing amplified, and first he heard the deerling's footsteps, its heartbeat, and some other noise.

Golden Centipede's cave is precarious, Earth Communication is the way to avoid the disaster…...

Yami knew in his heart that these noises were the movement sound of a centipede.

In his ear, he could hear the deerling's cries.

Evidently, it had gone into the cave and met the centipede.

Yami could see the image in his mind, the flustered deerling attacked by a centipede swarm, completely engulfing it. The deerling turns around in fright, and as it kicks its young hooves it felt the sense of death approaching and gave cries for help.

Uncountable number of centipedes climbed onto its body, and the deer laid on the ground, rolling and struggling.

Only after a while later, its heartbeat stopped.

The centipede army started to consume the deerling meat on its body.

Yami's gaze shone as he heard a special sound.

This sound was like a buzzing, like the turning on of a chainsaw; it was full of arrogance, dominance, and wildness.

If a newbie heard this, they would be confused. But with Yami's experience, he could guess the identity of this sound at once.

Rank three wild Gu worm — Chainsaw Golden Centipede!

This was the worm king in the centipedes, the true killer in the centipede cave.

Yami could completely imagine: A metre over in length, the breadth of two fists, coiling and slithering around the cave.

On the two sides of its body, there is a row of sharp saw-like teeth. As it moved, the chainsaws also moved around rapidly, just like an electric chainsaw.

The Chainsaw Golden Centipede's arrival caused the centipede army to quieten.

It came ferociously, and wherever it went, the centipedes gave way, showing the half-body remains of the deerling.

It climbed to the deerling's body, opening its mouth and consuming the deer blood and deer meat, and when it got to the bones, it coiled its body up and used the chainsaws to lightly grind against the bones, turning it into powder easily.

"Even the White Jade Gu's defense cannot endure this Chainsaw Golden Centipede's attack. It seems that the Flower Wine Monk's intention is to make me use this Earth Communication Ear Grass and avoid the centipede. But I have the Spring Autumn Cicada, so to subdue this Chainsaw Golden Centipede, it is not impossible!" Yami had a thought in his head.

He was overjoyed at this prey.

The Chainsaw Golden Centipede was an outstanding Gu worm. If it was his to use, it would be another strong method of attack.

Only that, in order to subdue this Chainsaw Golden Centipede, even a Rank four Gu Master would have to expend a lot of effort.

Catching and killing are two things, the former is way harder than the latter.

Wild Gu worms were all crafty, and if the Chainsaw Golden Centipede saw something amiss, it would burrow into the ground and escape. If a Gu Master did not have a burrowing method, how can he give chase?

But Yami had the Spring Autumn Cicada, thus as long as he caught this Chainsaw Golden Centipede and released a hint of the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, he would make the Gu worm cower and not dare to move.

Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank six, its aura was extremely powerful against Rank one to Rank four Gu worms. But against Rank five, it had less effect, and towards other Rank six, there was no deterrence force in it.

This phenomenon is very interesting, but actually human society is just the same.

Towards someone outstanding, people would envy, worship and admire. But to someone who is only slightly better performing, they would dare to offend, and was mostly competition and jealousy.

"I am only at Rank two middle stage now, hence to subdue this Rank three Chainsaw Golden Centipede, it is possible but still too early." Yami assessed.

Rank two Gu Masters should use Rank two Gu worms which is the most appropriate, and most useful. Of course, Rank two Gu Masters can also own Rank three or even Rank four Gu worms.

But this was not common.

Firstly, the higher rank the Gu worm, the more expensive it is to feed it. Secondly, they become harder to use and require more cost when activating. Like a baby trying to wield a large hammer, if it forcefully tried to, it might pull a muscle due to the hammer's weight and smash its own leg.

"The deerling has already alerted the entire colony, it would take ten days to half a month for these centipedes to calm down. After my testing, the thought in my heart has been affirmed, but I have no chance to strike yet. Why don't I slow down and give it some time, this matter cannot be rushed."

Yami left his thoughts here and closed the rock door again. He then left using the Stealth Scales Gu.

Dark clouds covered the sky, casting shadows over the entire Elemental Mountain, seemingly signifying the coming of a storm.

On a remote mountain side, a dozen robust lightning wolves drew back the corners of their mouth and made low roars. They had surrounded Yami.

These wolves had a healthy body and were not like the crippled wolves.

Any other Rank two Gu Master would be desperate if they were caught in such besiegement, alone. However, the situation was quite opposite right now.

Yami was standing on the spot, his expression calm. Instead, these lightning wolves that were surrounding him were slightly nervous and afraid.

The battle had already continued for a while and the ground was soaked with blood. Several lightning wolves had collapsed on the ground, and the silence showed Yami's battle accomplishments.

Kill!

Yami shouted inwardly, he took the initiative to attack even though he was the one surrounded. His foot pushed the ground as he pounced towards a lightning wolf on his left side.

This lightning wolf immediately shrunk back a small step in fear, but then its vicious personality was stimulated; it made a powerful jump and attacked Yami.

It opened its mouth in the air, revealing the many sharp wolf teeth that filled its mouth.

Yami laughed loudly; he didn't evade but just swung his right arm.

Whoosh.

An eerie-blue moonblade flew horizontally through the air and struck the lightning wolf's open mouth.

There was only a ripping noise, this unfortunate lightning wolf was instantly cut apart into two - from its mouth to tail - by this moonblade.

Boiling blood spurted out and poured like a rain of blood.

Yami's whole body flashed with white jade light as he charged through the blood rain and rampaged within the wolf pack.

The lightning wolves reacted, they attacked him from all sides. They opened their mouths and tore at him but were blocked by the White Jade Gu's defense, causing their own teeth to be broken.

Their claws were also of no use.

Yami punched and kicked, and the lightning wolves were sent flying under his enormous strength of two boars. Some lightning wolves had their skulls directly smashed and died on the spot. Yami grasped the upper hand in this battle.

But good things don't last forever, for his primeval essence was being used quickly.

Yami's aptitude was only C grade and his cultivation was at Rank two middle stage currently. The primeval essence in his aperture was not even fifty percent.

He looked at his declining primeval essence, but there were still several lightning wolves remaining. He had no choice but to use — Stealth Scales Gu!

His body gradually disappeared like the ripples in the water. In a blink of an eye, there was no more trace of him.

The lightning wolves were at their wits' end, and they gave off furious howls and started searing the area but didn't find anything.

Yami had not gone far. He gazed at the lightning wolves' movements while absorbing primeval stones to recover his primeval essence and also maintaining the concealment of the Stealth Scales Gu at the same time.

Lightning wolves had extraordinary eyesight but their sense of smell were not sharp. The Stealth Scales Gu just so happened to be their bane.

When Yami's primeval essence recovered to thirty percent, the lightning wolf pack finally retreated unwillingly.

Yami didn't have a movement Gu worm, so if the lightning wolves really retreated, he would definitely not be able to catch up to them with his speed. Thus, he removed the concealment of the Stealth Scales Gu and became visible.

Hooooowl!

The lightning wolves saw Yami and as if he had killed their fathers, they rushed at him.

Yami sneered. He waited till the lightning wolves were in front of him, then he suddenly struck with his right hand.

His right fist was covered with a layer of faint white jade light which was extremely hard. The punch ferociously struck a lightning wolf's lower back.

Crack. A crisp sound was heard immediately and this unlucky lightning wolf was sent flying by Yami, its lower back fractured.

It fell on the ground and crazily struggled while letting out miserable howls, but it could no longer get up.

Yami had recovered sufficient primeval essence and with his formidable fighting strength, he killed four more lightning wolves in a few moments.

The remaining several lightning wolves lost their fighting spirit and looked at Yami with fear. They whimpered and then tucked their tails and escaped.

Yami didn't chase after them.

He couldn't compare to these lightning wolves in speed; chasing was pointless.

The ground was filled with wolf corpses and they were all Yami's spoils of war. But Yami was cautious, he didn't hurry to take out the lightning wolves' eyeballs.

Earth Communication Ear Grass!

He got down on his hands, his right ear close to the earth. Roots grew out from the ear and pierced the soil.

His hearing strength amplified instantly; he could scout anything within a three hundred step radius.

Many sounds entered his ear, but there were no sounds of wolf packs or the sounds of other Gu Masters moving about.

"It is safe for the moment." Yami let out a breath of relief. He took out a dagger and began to dig out the eyeballs of the lightning wolves.

He only handed over a small part of these eyeballs and hid the rest.

If he handed all of them, it would no doubt attract suspicions and even result to secret investigations. Yami wanted to prevent such inconveniences as much as possible.

Yami immediately left after digging out all the eyeballs of these lightning wolves.

When he had killed two more wolf packs like this, the sky was already covered with thick dark clouds. Strong wind blew, blowing through the pine forests, creating a green wave in the mountain along with the rustling of the leaves.

Hoooowllll...

Faint howls of large numbers of lightning wolves echoed within the wind.

Yami's expression slightly paled; according to his previous life's memories, today was the day the wolf tide truly broke out.

He used the Earth Communication Ear Grass again but didn't hear the rapid advancement of the lightning wolves.

He wasn't surprised, but instead became calm.

This meant that there was at least over a three hundred step gap away between him and the lightning wolves. This distance along with his own speed and the knowledge of the topography, sufficed to let him reach the village safely.

"These lightning wolves are cunning, choosing to attack in such weather. The noise from the strong wind and the sounds from the pine forest will mask their movements to a great degree," Yami sighed inwardly, then ran towards the village with his greatest speed.

After running for hundreds of meters, he bumped into a five person Gu Master group.

"Hey, you are Yami Uzumaki!" A young Gu Master in the group raised his eyebrows when he saw Yami and greeted him in an odd way.

This Gu Master was Kakashi, Yami's classmate. During the academy period, he had suffered from Yami's bullying and extortion.

Yami indifferently glanced at him before brushing past him without pausing, not giving him a chance to speak again.

"Bastard!" Kakashi was stunned, then a stifled feeling rose up in his heart and his speed slowed down.

He didn't get the chance to ridicule Yami.

"Little Kakashi. Don't slow down. We need to hunt at least fifty lightning wolves today to preserve our rank in the battle merit board!" The group leader spoke.

Kakashi immediately restrained his furious expression and quickly followed the group members.

"My group is ranked seventy-five in the battle merit board. That Yami is ranked at beyond two hundred. This difference is like that of heaven and earth! I am also quite fortunate to have such a caring senior as the group leader. From the start of the wolf tide till now, I have exchanged part of the battle merits to get a Gu worm. My future is bright, how could Yami compare to me?"

Kakashi calmed down a lot when he thought of this, even feeling blessed at that.

"In this world, what can one accomplish by fighting alone? Many hands make light work, unity is the greater power. It is still the clansmen that are reliable! Borrowing the clan's strength, we newbies can safely grow up. That Yami is an idiot, he really thinks he is a hero. He resolved the problem of the Rank Five River Swallowing Toad only by luck and he is putting on airs. Although he has become a group leader, he hasn't recruited any group members, serves him right to be ranked last! Haha. Anyway, with his eccentric personality, how will he recruit any group members?"

Kakashi's movement became more relaxed.

Strangely, all along the way, they hadn't run into any wolf packs.

Kakashi raised his head to look at the sky, it was afternoon but the sky was already dusky as if it was evening.

The wind blew, and the dark clouds densely covered the sky and moved rapidly, brewing thunder and rainstorm.

However, Kakashi was not afraid, a mocking smile appearing on his mouth as he thought, "Hahaha, so Yami was hurriedly rushing back because he was worried of this rainstorm? What a coward, what is there to be afraid of a rainstorm?"

Right at this time, the group leader's face suddenly paled, he opened his mouth and sucked in a deep breath.

"Sir group leader, what happened?" Other four members naturally noticed this.

In this Gu Master group, the group leader was in charge of scouting. Although he was also a Rank two Gu Master, his scouting Gu worm didn't have as great a radius as Yami's Earth Communication Ear Grass.

His face was deathly white right now and he had no wish to give detailed explanation.

"Run, quick!" He shouted with terror and amidst other group members' astonished gazes, he turned around and ran.

"Follow the group leader!" Other group members were not foolish, they quickly reacted and broke into a run.

Hoooowllll—!

Wolf howls came from behind them continuously. From these noises, they knew there was more than a thousand lightning wolves!

Everyone in the group was pale, they breathed heavily and used all their strength to run.

"Wait for me!" Kakashi sprinted with all he had but was still the last; he lost his composure and started screaming for help.

He felt the breathing sounds of the lightning wolves behind his back.

But what made him despair was the group leader who normally showed great consideration to him, didn't even turn his head back. The teammates who used to pat their chests and speak of brotherhood and sentiments ignored his shouts.

Houuu!

Kakashi suddenly heard a wolf howl right next to him.

In the next moment, he felt an enormous force pressed on his back and knocking him down.

He tumbled on the ground; the fall had made him dizzy.

He subconsciously turned around to try to resist.

Boom!

A lightning snake flashed through the air.

In the darkness, a bold lightning wolf's figure immediately became visible.

Its body was twice the size of a normal lightning wolf, the hair in its body erect. It opened its mouth and revealed its silver white sharp fangs.

Kakashi's pupils shrank to a needle size, a thought echoing within his mind—"Hundred beast king!"

The wolf pack's scale in the wolf nest was enormous; not only were there three myriad beast king level thunder crown wolves, there were also hundred beast king level bold lightning wolves and thousand beast king level frenzy lightning wolves.

In the very next second, the bold lightning wolf opened its mouth and with a crack sound, Kakashi's whole head was gnawed off.

Fresh blood and brain matter splashed. The bold lightning wolf lowered its head and began to swallow the blood from Kakashi's neck and gnawed at his fatty meat.

Countless lightning wolves came from behind it and rushed ahead.

Rumbling sounds continued incessantly.

Pitter-patter, heavy rain also started pouring.

The true wolf tide had begun!


	28. A Hero Doesn't Fight Straightforwardly

**A True Hero Doesn't Fight Straightforwardly**

The rain poured heavily from above, and snake-like lightning danced in the sky randomly. This sustained for the entire night.

Yami lay on his bed, hearing the shouting of Gu Masters outside his house and the sound of their footsteps in the rain.

He squinted his eyes, visions of his past life flashing in his head again.

In his previous life when the wolf tide attacked, he was still a Rank one Gu Master, and being part of the support group, he hid within the village and managed to escape the disastrous fate.

But this time, he was already a Rank two middle stage, and he had the Four Flavor Liquor worm, currently moving towards upper stage. Thus, he had to be like other Gu Masters, resisting the wolf tide in such a dark night.

"The rain is pouring outside, and they still have to fight the large amount of lightning wolves in this poor vision, this is truly torture," Yami snorted in his heart.

He did not sleep in the rented apartment, but instead he was at the inn.

If Yami was at the rented house, he would definitely be forced to participate.

"The clan higher-ups have definitely underestimated this wolf tide's severity, the correct method would be to hide in the village and defend to the end. Unfortunately, they are blinded by past experiences..." Yami flipped around in his bed while thinking about this.

Outside the window, the rain splattered all over the place, it was definitely a storm.

Sounds of thunder constantly entered his ears.

On the streets, Gu Masters hurriedly moved about, the sounds of their footsteps and furious bellows never having a pause.

At once, the cries of the wolves reached the village.

This was destined to be a sleepless night.

Whether it was the Gu Masters who were risking their lives fighting, or the mortals hiding in the village shivering, or even Yami. After sleeping until the midnight hour, they naturally awoke.

He did not get up, but opened his eyes in the darkness while lying on his bed.

The sounds outside the window entered his ears. People's life and death battles, he could imagine, along with the thunderstorm outside the village. Gu Masters and wolf packs formed an extraordinarily lively stage. No matter which character, they were displaying the essence of life.

Life was like a show, this was a good show. But Yami had no intentions of joining the act.

On the contrary, he felt a sense of unexplainable loneliness.

A loneliness with boundary.

This was not because he was a transmigrator, reincarnator, or the fact that he carried an unspeakable secret.

But because, everyone was born lonely!

Humans are like isolated islands, floating in the sea of fate.

Human encounters are like the collision of these loneliness islands, and once they touch, there would be an effect.

Sometimes, the islands would stick together, in the name of 'interest', 'kinship', 'friendship', 'love' and 'hate'.

But eventually, they would separate, walking towards the path of destruction.

This is the truth behind life.

Unfortunately people are always afraid of being alone, they craved the liveliness of human crowd, and they refused to do nothing with their time.

Because once they face loneliness, it meant facing pain and hardship.

But once they can face this pain, people would obtain talent and courage. Thus, there is a saying — High achievers are definitely lonely.

"This is the feeling of being lonely. Every time I savor this, it strengthens my resolve to pursue the demonic way!" Yami's gaze shone, thinking of the story of Genten.

Legend says, Genten had obtained the Attitude Gu. Attitude Gu was like a mask, and without a heart Genten couldn't wear it.

Because before this, Genten had given his heart to the Hope Gu, and from then on he never feared difficulty.

But if Genten wanted to use the Attitude Gu, he needed to have a heart.

Genten was troubled, thus he asked Attitude Gu; he said, "Oh Gu, sometimes attitude says its all. Now that I have encountered a problem, you know it, thus I'm here to seek advice."

Attitude Gu said, "This is not hard. Genten, you lack a heart, thus you just have to find a new one."

Genten was confused, asking again, "Then how can I find a new heart?"

Attitude Gu sighed, "Heart, is nowhere and everywhere. Finding a heart, it is both easy and difficult. With your situation, you can obtain a heart now."

Genten was overjoyed, "Quick, tell me, how?"

Attitude Gu warned him, "This heart, is called loneliness. Human, are you sure you want it? Once you obtain it, you will face endless pain, loneliness and even fear!"

Genten did not listen to his warning, he continued asking.

Attitude Gu could not defy Genten's orders, thus he said, "You only have to stare at the sky on a starry night, and say nothing. Once you reach daylight, you will obtain the heart of loneliness."

That night, it was a star-filled sky.

According to Attitude Gu's instructions, Genten sat alone at the mountain peak, staring at the night sky.

Before this, his life was very difficult, constantly struggling for survival, he had no time to admire this beautiful yet mysterious sky.

But now, as he stared at the starry sky, his thoughts began floating. Constantly thinking about himself, such a meagre and weak being like himself, living a life of constant fear and insecurity.

"Sigh, although I have Hope Gu, Strength Gu, Rules and Regulation Gu, and Attitude Gu, to survive in this land, it is still difficult as ever. Even if I die tomorrow, it is not shocking. If I die, will the world remember me? Will anyone rejoice over my existence, and grieve over my death?"

Thinking of this, Genten shook his head.

In this world, he was the only human, how can there be others?

Even with Gu accompanying him, he still felt a strong sense of —

Loneliness.

Heart of loneliness!

At this moment, when Genten felt lonely, his body suddenly had a brand new heart.

The sun rose from the horizon, and shone on his face. But Genten felt no happiness, and instead felt an endless pain, despair, confusion and even fear.

He could not endure this loneliness and fear, for all he felt was the advent of darkness and apocalypse!

Thus, he painfully cried, stretching out his fingers and digging out his eyes.

His left eye fell onto the ground and transformed into a young man. He had golden hair and a strong body. Once he appeared, he kneeled at Genten's feet, saying: "Oh Genten, my father, I am your eldest son, Asura."

At the same time, his right eye turned into a young girl, and she held Genten's hand, saying, "Oh Genten, my father, I am your second daughter, Kaguya."

Genten laughed loudly, tears flowing out of his empty sockets. He said 'good' three times and continued, "I have children now, I can finally endure the pain of the heart of loneliness. From now one, there will be people celebrating my existence, and grieving for my death, even if I die now, you will remember me."

"Only that..." Finally, he sighed, "I lost both my eyes, and can no longer see the light. From now on, you two shall observe this world for me."

It rained the entire night, only at dawn did the rain stop.

Yami left the inn. Along the streets the passersbies carried heavy and sad expressions.

This night, the clan suffered great losses.

The truth was, for the three clans on Elemental Mountain, none of them escaped this fate; all had suffered heavy losses.

Yami could tell from seeing the merit board.

After a night, the battle merit board lost twenty-five small groups, all sacrificed in the wolf tide. Even if there was one or two survivors, they were either injured or crippled.

The group Kakashi was in, was among this.

The dozen over days after this, the situation worsened by the day.

First, the hundred beast king bold lightning wolf had appeared, and then soon after, reports came in that there was the thousand beast king frenzy lightning wolf!

Information like this, caused the Rank two Gu Masters battling to be frightened.

If they met the frenzy lightning wolf, they would need at least three groups to cooperate to deal with it. This is not including the normal wolf groups together with the frenzy lightning wolf.

The three clans had to send out their Rank three elders to deal with the situation.

In this situation, the Gu Masters' daily lives became very dangerous and long.

Even with the Stealth Scales Gu, Yami had to be careful and meticulous. After all, he might encounter a beast king class lightning wolf with a Lightning Eye Gu.

The good news was that he had previously paid a price to be able to use the Earth Communication Ear Grass.

This investigative Gu's range was very large, allowing him to avoid the large-sized wolf packs.

Eventually, the weather got warmer as July was at its end. Even though the situation was not optimistic, under the cooperation of the three clans, the situation was under control.

Somewhere near the mountainside.

Three Gu Masters who had already experienced an intense battle were facing against a bold lightning wolf that had just arrived.

The aura of death was impending.

"Damn it, insufficient primeval essence, if I had 60%, no just 30%, we would not have to be chased like this!" Group leader Natsuchi stared at the slowly approaching bold lightning wolf, like a cat chasing a mouse, he vomited a mouthful of bloody water.

"The mountain cliff is ahead, there is no path left, what do we do?" A group member asked with a pale expression.

"What can we do? We can only put our hopes on the reinforcements. I heard lord Haku from my clan has come out of his closed door cultivation and is rushing into battle."

The two original groups, from both the Iwa Clan and Kiri Clan, faced the wolf tide together and cooperated, but now only three people were left.

"Rather than relying on the Haku who is nowhere to be found, I'd rather fight for a chance to survive!" Natsuchi gritted his teeth, "The reason why a beast king is so dangerous, is because of the Gu on its body. I have a Plunder Gu, it can forcefully steal a Gu worm from my enemy. But it needs to be sustained when activated and I cannot move. During this period, you have to protect me."

"Okay!" The other two looked at each other and stood in front of Natsuchi, helping him block the bold lightning wolf.

Even though they knew that there was little hope, no one was willing to resign themselves to death.

"If the plunder is successful, we have a chance to live! Heaven bless us!" Natsuchi's face was determined as he raised his right arm.

Life and death depends on this!

The three humans and one wolf did not know that, high up on the cliff, a white haired young man wearing a white shirt was staring at this scene.

"Life is so boring..." He sat on the ground, one hand propping himself up, while the other was pouring liquid from his wine bottle.

What he poured out was not wine, but sweet mountain springwater.

He did not drink wine, but only liked water.

As this young man drank, he stared at the show before him.

"Fight, and die. Such a mundane life is too boring. Only with an intense battle like this, can your lives have a hint of excitement and colour. This way, your lives has some meaning."

He laughed lightly in his heart, not showing any inclination to help.

Even if he had the ability, even if his Kiri Clan member was there.

So what?

To him, loneliness is the deepest darkness, and the light of kinship is just a facade.

He Haku would not do something as boring as saving someone!

On the cliff, Haku watched with interest.

As he sat at the cliff, a life and death battle was on full display.

The bold lightning wolf took its move, slowly approaching.

Two Gu Masters blocked its path with a grim expression.

Behind them, Natsuchi was half-kneeling on the ground, his left hand grabbing his right wrist, his right hand in the shape of a claw, aiming at the bold lightning wolf.

"Plunder Gu!" Suddenly, he shouted loudly, all the primeval essence in his body gushing towards the Plunder Gu.

An invisible grabbing force exploded from within.

Natsuchi's right hand grabbed the air, and a sense of illusion made him feel that he had grabbed onto a Gu worm.

But this Gu worm continued to struggle, contesting with him.

This force was very large; his center of gravity had already been very low, but he still felt a very strong force dragging him forward.

"Plunder Gu's success rate is very low, but I have to succeed this time, otherwise we're doomed!" He gritted his teeth, veins popping up on his forehead as his expression turned ferocious, contesting with all his ability.

Natsuchi had no other way.

Failure means death!

Under the pressure of death, he infused the Plunder Gu with all the primeval essence he could muster. With the infusion of the primeval essence, the Plunder Gu residing in his right palm also increased its sucking force. The bold lightning wolf felt something amiss, and started howling, attacking in a frenzy.

The two Gu Masters could hardly block it.

Just when Natsuchi felt that his plunder was going to succeed, his expression changed.

"Damn it, not enough primeval essence!" He suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, his state of health being at the worst. Once a plunder fails, he would face some backlash. This was a flaw of the Plunder Gu.

Howl!

Without the Plunder Gu's restriction, the bold lightning wolf opened its mouth, and started to howl.

The Gu worm that lived within it used its ability, and made its teeth shine with lightning.

Eerie blue lightning discharged and finally shot out from its mouth.

The lightning shot through the middle of both Gu Masters, aiming for the half kneeling Natsuchi.

Natsuchi did not even have time to cry before he got hit by the lightning, turning into a piece of charred black cooked meat, instantly dead.

"Run!" The remaining two Gu Masters no longer had any fighting spirit as they ran in two directions.

The bold lightning wolf chased up to one of them, pouncing on him and biting the throat.

The final Kiri Clan Gu Master was blocked by the bold lightning wolf, and could only retreat towards the cliff.

"Ahhhhh. I'm going to die!" With his back against the cliff, he roared in despair, venting out the fear in his heart.

But suddenly his voice came to a stop — He saw Haku on top of the cliff.

"Lord Haku! Lord Haku, is that really you?" He was stunned but then started shouting, overjoyed.

"Oops, you found me," Haku laughed, and raised his right hand.

His right index finger pointed downwards and an icicle instantly formed, shooting downwards.

The icicle hit the Gu Master crying for help, penetrating his skull, all the way to his chin.

"Ah!" His face was still fixed with intense joy after finding hope, but then fell to the ground with a plop.

The bold lightning wolf was shocked by the event.

It stared at Haku, its mouth opening. Within, lightning coiled around its teeth.

"Ignorant beast." Haku stared plainly, jumping down lightly from the five metre cliff.

In the air, he clapped his palms together, and icy mist instantly formed.

Next his palms splitted, and an ice blade appeared.

This ice blade was around 1.7m, like the katana, with a transparent icy body. The handle was grabbed by Haku.

Bold lightning wolf shot out electric light from bottom to up, and Haku laughed while two lines of white water vapour poured out of his nose.

The water vapour swirled around, wrapping around his body into a layer of water barrier.

The water ball continued to rotate on its own, and the bold lightning wolf's lightning dissipated upon hitting this barrier.

The water ball burst open, and the white clothed young man appeared from within.

"Die." The young man's iris turned from black to pure blue, like two pieces of blue crystal, devoid of feelings and emotion.

The light of the blade shone.

Haku landed lightly, and from his half-transparent white ice blade, a drop of blood fell.

Meanwhile, the bold lightning wolf stayed still like a statue.

A breath later, fresh blood poured from its neck as the large wolf head fell on the ground, rolling several times. As for the body, it collapsed on the ground.

The Lightning Current Gu that resided in its body shot out like lightning towards Haku.

Haku flicked his wrist, and a light shot out from his blade.

The Lightning Current Gu, under his sword, exploded into a ball of eerie blue lightning current with a bang, perishing instantly.

Haku slowly walked towards Natsuchi's corpse.

"The other Gu worms, they are all ordinary. But this Plunder Gu is slightly interesting." From Natsuchi's corpse, he extracted the Plunder Gu and held it near his chest.

Even though the three clans have an agreement — after a Gu Master dies, if anyone after that obtains a Gu worm that has lost its Gu Master, they need to hand it over.

But Haku did not care about this rule.

Even if they found out, so what?

He was the symbol of the Kiri Clan's rise, and the clan would definitely protect him.

This, he was very sure of.

"Only… this wolf tide is really boring." He used his hand to caress his ice blade, feeling the intense freezing sensation.

"Come to think about it, it is more fun competing with someone." He yawned, suddenly smiling, "I wonder how Hashirama, Akatsuchi and the others are doing, how much have they grown? After cultivating behind closed doors for so long, maybe they can give me a surprise, maybe."

Days later.

At the square where it was overflowing with people, Yami stared at a giant flag.

On the flag, words were formed by the Swimword Gu. The content was about the resources co-supplied by the three clans.

These resources were very broadly categorized, from food used to feed Gu worms, rice and condiments for humans, oil and other living necessities, to Gu worms themselves and primeval stones.

But behind these resources, there was a number attached to them, corresponding to the amount of merit points needed to exchange for them.

A wolf's eye was ten merit points, and five merit points was for a bag of 500g of rice. Using twenty-five merit points could let a Gu Master exchange for one primeval stone.

Undoubtedly, the arrival of the wolf tide brought about an opportunity never seen before during peaceful times.

The battle merit board and this resource board urged on many Gu Masters, making them willingly bath in warm blood, hunting lightning wolves day and night.

Especially recently, as the wolf tide intensified, the three clans brought out the savings they had and spurred on the Gu Masters' battle spirit, also raising their battle capability to help the village survive this ordeal.

Thus, the resource board had many things that were not commonly seen.

Like now, Yami's attention was on this Gu.

"Three Step Fragrant Grass Gu," he muttered, staring at the description on the large flag.

Three Step Fragrant Grass Gu was a Gu worm Yami needed, as it could assist with movement, raising Yami's running speed.

Honestly speaking, these days, the resource board had many new Gu worms. But only this Three Step Fragrant Grass Gu was what Yami wanted.

Except that this grass Gu was not easy to get. It was not only the only one of its kind on the resource board, but the merit points required to exchange for it is also very high.

"If I use my true ability, I can definitely gather enough merit points to exchange for this Three Step Fragrant Grass Gu. But if I do that, it would invite the suspicion of the clan, and that is not desirable."

Yami thought silently.

"There is another way, and that is to produce a large amount of vitality leaves and sell these Rank one Gu to the clan, exchanging it for merit points. But this method is slow, by the time I get enough points, someone might have exchanged it already."

Yami shook his head internally, this method had a flaw that would lead to failure.

Then what should he do?

He stared at the resource board and the merit board, falling into deep thought.

Towards the merit points, he had a clearer and deeper understanding of it compared to all the surrounding people.

Merit points are basically a kind of emergency currency.

During peacetime, primeval stones are the common medium of exchange. They were hard currency and had high commercial value in themselves, thus would never devalue.

But with the wolf tide, the need for primeval stones surged, and it could no longer be used as a currency. Thus, an emergency currency was needed to take over.

Thus, merit points were born.

"With an alternate currency like the merit point, it can prevent the economy from collapsing temporarily. Like on Earth, when there's a war, the government would print large amounts of paper money. Of course, that causes inflation and rising price levels. The merit points are the same; the more it drags on, the more it devalues. But during the time of the village's life and death situation, without merit points and using only primeval stones is not sustainable. Thus, they can only pick the lesser poison. Hence after the wolf tide, the economy always has signs of depression."

"Sigh, this rough form of an economy is nothing worth mentioning. If I am a Rank three, I can easily play around. But unfortunately, I do not have enough strength, so I'm unable to handle the risks. If I push on, it is equivalent to playing with fire."

Yami sighed internally.

The point was that his cultivation was not high, and his strength was not sufficient.

Without strength, only having wisdom, it is useless.

Thus, in Genten's story, Genten chose to deal with the Strength Gu, obtaining strength and giving up on wisdom.

That is because, strength is the foundation.

Yami was still thinking deeply when he heard the discussions of the people around him.

"Do you guys know? Haku struck again!"

"What, what, which unlucky Gu Master is it this time?"

"It's Iwa Clan's Akatsuchi, that dejected-looking one."

"Sigh, what is this Haku doing? Last time, injuring Torune, and now attacking Akatsuchi. With the wolf tide coming, he is still fooling around!"

"He's always does what he wants, he is already a Rank three Gu Master and is still finding problem with Rank two Gu Masters. For fairness, he even used a Gu worm to suppress his own cultivation to Rank two, he is really bored and hard to understand!"

"Haku huh… hmph, a person halfway into the coffin. But that reminded me of something." Yami upon hearing this felt something in his heart stir.

He knew how to get a large amount of merit points quickly.

Sprinting rapidly!

The trees before Yami looked like they were crashing into him, and he quickly avoided them nimbly, pushing off with his legs.

His right ear had roots swaying around, and behind him was a bold lightning wolf angered by him on purpose and several hundred healthy ordinary lightning wolves.

The lightning wolves' speed was faster than him. Especially the bold lightning wolf, its streamlined body jolted around in the complicated terrain, having an extremely fast speed.

Seeing Yami who was about to be caught up, suddenly, his body had ripples of light around him, and he vanished.

The bold lightning wolf had to halt its steps and observe the surroundings with bewilderment.

Yami sprinted to a faraway place, before reappearing again.

Bold lightning wolf's eyesight was sharp, immediately finding him. It growled angrily and chased after Yami again.

As for those ordinary lightning wolves, they followed closely behind.

Yami laughed internally and continued sprinting.

Rinse and repeat, he had finally reached his destination. This time, he activated his stealth completely.

The wolf pack who came chasing sniffed around the area where Yami disappeared, and soon after, the bold lightning wolf found its new target.

Not far away, on the mountain valley, there were five Gu Masters fighting with a pack of wolves.

Howl!

The bold lightning wolf had limited IQ, immediately forgetting Yami. It turned its head and growled, and the lightning wolves behind it entered the valley's battlefield like tidal waves.

"How can this be?" The Gu Master in battle saw this scene and despaired.

"Didn't they say that each pack of wolves have their own mobility range?"

"We took so much effort to kill a bold lightning wolf, and here comes a second one! We're screwed."

"Quickly send the distress signal to the clan!"

This new pack of wolves joined in and the Gu Master's pressure intensified, their tone showing a panicky and flustered emotion.

The investigative Gu Master shot out a Gu worm from his hand.

This Gu worm was like a golden round ball, but had a pair of colourful feathered wings. It flew into midair and exploded, turning into a rainbow flame, observable from a 50km range.

This was the signal Gu, a Rank one expendable Gu worm, often used to send signals.

"The signal has been sent, everyone hang in there, wait for reinforcements!" The group leader shouted at an appropriate timing, slightly raising the morale and stabilizing their fighting spirits.

"It's useless." Yami appeared at a high point on the cliff, staring downwards, his heart smirking.

This Gu Master group's situation was already well investigated by him. The nearest group in the vicinity was also deep in the wolf pack's encirclement.

That pack of wolves was also lured over by Yami, to restrict them.

"Killing lightning wolves, each eyeball is ten merit points. But on the battlefield, reclaiming Gu worms and bringing them to the clan higher-ups is worth at least a thousand points! This kind of thing, after doing it two or three times, I will be able to exchange the Three Step Fragrant Grass Gu," Yami thought in his heart.

Under his scheme, the Gu Master group's fate was sealed.

"Next, I will wait for them to be exterminated. Then I shall lure the lightning wolf pack away and come back here to collect the Gu worms." Yami walked to a nearby tree and sat down leisurely.

No one was willing to die, so these Gu Masters put up a strong resistance.

Yami did not risk it to lure a thousand beast king frenzy lightning wolf, but instead chose the bold lightning wolf, so this gave them the opportunity to struggle for a longer time.

Especially when among them, there was a defeated opponent of Yami's.

Choza.

He had the Monolith Gu and had strong defense, thus he alone could block many lightning wolves' attack.

But, this was also why Yami chose their group.

The more precious the Gu worm, after returning them, the more merit points are awarded. After bringing back the Monolith Gu, Yami can get around 3900 merit points, and that can let his position on the battle merit board rise by at least twenty positions.

Of course, Torune, Hana and Hashirama's Gu worms, were more precious than the Monolith Gu.

But Torune's group had Konoha Bisuke, who possessed the Snake Communication Gu, able to rely on heat to detect living beings. Yami's stealth had no use against him.

As for Hana, she had an even stronger investigative Gu Master than Bisuke, with even more methods. She had single-handedly completed wolf den investigation missions given by the clan many times.

Hashirama group does not have a strong investigative Gu Master, but because of Naruto Uzumaki's existence, the clan has definitely sent a clan elder to follow and protect him, thus if Yami lures them, it is courting death.

For the Gu Masters in the other two clans, Yami was not familiar with them.

Setting up others was not easy to do. After choosing left and right, he finally decided on a few groups, and after following them for a long while, he managed to find an appropriate chance.

Haku was sleeping when sounds of battles entered his ear.

His opened his eyes slightly, the slit of his eye shining with cold light.

"Another boring scene." He was sleeping on the edge of the cliff, and just turning around allowed him to have a clear view of the valley. He was about to go back to sleep, but suddenly saw a figure.

"Oh?" His eyes shone with shock as he saw Yami.

Yami was leaning against the tree, eating a wild fruit he picked, staring coldly at the battlefield with no intention to help.

Haku instantly grew interested, he had never met someone like this. From young, the people around him were all loyal to the clan, and indulged in kinship.

But from Yami, he felt a sense of familiarity, loneliness and aloofness.

"Who is he?" Haku's heart developed confusion and interest.

The wild fruit was picked on the spot, but with his experience, Yami could tell it was harmless.

The fruit was juicy, sour and sweet. As he ate, his right ear twitched; he heard something, and it was nearby!

Haku was sleeping on a higher terrain of the cliff earlier, but without making any movements, the Earth Communication Ear Grass could not sense him. However, now that he moved, he was instantly discovered.

Yami's eyes shone with lightning as he turned his body to see a white haired and white clothed young man, stabbing his ice blade into the cliff and sliding down along it, landing not too far away.

Haku!

Yami's eyes squinted, recognising him instantly.

Elemental Mountain's number one genius, the symbol of Kiri Clan's rise. Killing a Rank three clan elder at Rank two, and at this young age he already reached Rank three, a crucial person capable of changing the entire power distribution of Elemental Mountain!

If it was other Gu Masters facing Haku alone, their expression would be rapidly changing, either nervous or wary.

But Yami's gaze only stayed on him for a second before looking back at the valley. His expression was calm, almost uncaring. This is because Yami knew all about Haku's trump cards and secrets. Very clearly.

"Oh..." Haku walked over, staring at Yami blankly. His mouth opened, dragging his word.

He curiously stared at Yami like he was looking at an object he had never seen before.

He got closer and closer. The more he looked at Yami, the more his eyes shone, and the greater interest he had in his heart.

"On this person, why do I sense a familiar smell? It feels like I've seen him before. Like long ago, we are already friends, this feeling!" Haku's heart was turbulent.

Friend — This word, he was always sceptical, despising, and even felt disdain towards it.

He never thought he would have a friend. Those commoners around him, they only had the right to admire him, they had no right to become his friend.

Haku always thought, he would never have a friend in his life.

But now — he suddenly had this feeling!

This was a mystical feeling, but he was very sure of it. When he looked at Yami, it felt like he was looking at himself!

Haku got slightly too close, and Yami turned around, staring at him plainly with his deep dark iris.

Without a reason, Haku understood the meaning of his gaze.

It was a warning.

He halted his steps, slightly stunned, very impolitely staring at Yami while saying, "Eh, you really are interesting."

If the Kiri Clan Gu Masters who were familiar with him heard this, they would go crazy.

That is because, since his birth, Haku had never praised someone like this.

Yami ignored him, biting his wild fruit and staring at the valley's intense fight.

Haku circled around Yami, observing him closely. As if he was looking at the strangest food on earth. He looked from every angle, even squatting down on the ground and looking up at him from the floor.

His silky white hair which was impeccably clean like a crystal, instantly laid on the muddy ground, but he did not care.

His white robe dragged across the ground and he paid no heed either.

This moment, he was like a pure child, seeing his playmate, curiously staring at Yami with a longing expression, many times wanting to speak but couldn't.

Haku felt that he had many things to say to Yami, but when he was about to speak, he felt no need anymore, because he felt that Yami understood.

After being silent for a while, he asked, "The valley's battle is not interesting at all, what's there to look at."

Halfway through, his eyebrows raised, showing an expression of realization, "I see. You lured this wolf pack, you want to kill these Gu Masters, but why did you not do it yourself. Oh, afraid of leaving evidence. You are too vigilant, from your aura, you already have Rank two cultivation. If I were you, I'll just go ahead and do it myself!"

Suddenly, he chuckled like he had seen the most fun toy in this world as a kid. His eyebrows darted around, "You are really interesting, even the things you do are interesting. Hehehe, I am starting to like you!"

Yami retracted his gaze, turning around and looking at Haku.

He knew this person.

That is because this person is also a natural demon.

What is a demon?

Abandoning the worldly customs, treating the people of this world with indifference. Engulfed by loneliness, and despising relationships!

This person was like Yami's shadow, except that Yami was deeper down the path, and Haku was more pure.

In simple words, they were kindred spirits!

In his previous life's memory, after the three clans barely survived the wolf tide, this man murdered the three clans and caused the lustrous green Elemental Mountain to turn into a hellish ice mountain!

"Haku, Haku..." Yami sighed in his heart, saying slowly, "You're very lonely, huh."

Haku's eyes widened, squatting on the floor, nodding continuously, empathising and sighing, "Yes, these days, life has been super boring. Some time ago, I killed a Iwa Clan Gu Master and that was somewhat fun. Getting this Gu, look."

Yami looked at the Plunder Gu in his hand, starting to laugh, "So, you want to kill me?"

Haku's eyes turned from black to blue crystal colour as he jumped up and straightened his body.

"Hahaha!" He raised his head and laughed thrice, staring at Yami with an excited expression, "You do know! That's right, I want to kill you, come kill me too. Life and death battles are the most fun, meeting someone as interesting as you, I swear I've never done anything so interesting!"

He got more and more excited as he suddenly opened both arms, arching his head and sighing, "Ahhhh! I can feel that my life had never been so colourful! Thank you, thank you, although I don't know your name, thank you for letting me kill you! Hehehe..."

"Do not worry, you are only a Rank two, I will not lower myself and take advantage of you. I shall restrict my cultivation to the same rank for your sake; so come, let's have a fair fight!" Haku roared with savage laughter.

Facing the crazy Haku, Yami easily maintained a languid expression. He met the heated glare in an equal manner, responding coolly.

"Wanna kill me, then come."

Nothing left to say, Yami took the first step, his body drifting away like a falling petal.

Haku's laugh came to an abrupt stop at this, his voice easily tainted with anguish.

"Don't you run from me!"

He instantly ran after, engaging Yami in a relentless chase.

Yami ridiculed the disheveled master soundlessly, sprinting towards the mountain valley.

Disturbed by the two barging into the valley's inner battlefield, the wolf pack reacted with fury, wasting no time in attacking Yami and Haku.

The Gu Masters who had already been forced into the valley and lost one man noticed the spectacle, the remaining four revealing a relieved expression when they saw saw the wolves become distracted.

"Hang in there guys, reinforcements are here!" One even shouted loudly, blatantly trying to encourage the wolves against the newcomers.

"Why is there only two?" Another asked, clueless while they saw the muffled figures of Yami and Haku.

But as they got closer, Choza's face turned weird with realization.

"It's him!"

It was impossible for him to not remember Yami, along with a sharp feeling of fear mixed with shame; it was this man that had defeated and publicly humiliated him. Those cold, merciless eyes, dug out the deepest nightmare in his heart. He would never forget that terrifying event and the fiendish man who accompanied the memory.

He had once sworn to himself that he would buck up and reclaim his pride.

But now, faced with Yami who was here to 'save' him, Choza felt very complicated internally.

"Wait, the second person is..."

They all were able to recognise Haku, and showed collective signs of shock at his appearance.

"Haku . . . Haku!" Choza's eyes widened, he did not expect in the least to suddenly see Haku appear under such a situation.

"Scumbag, stop right there!" Behind him, Haku was continuing to shout vehemently.

Yami paid no attention, however, and transversed among the wolf pack.

His body was glowing with a white jade light, protecting him from the rabid lightning wolves' bites and scratches. But because each assault made contact, his aperture's primeval essence dropped quickly in turn.

Not far away, Haku's nose had flared and was blowing out water vapour, forming into a round shield of condensed moisture, enveloping his body.

As each of the numerous lightning wolves hit this seemingly water shield, though, all of their kinetic force build up by their charge was simply dispersed by the water flow, and they were quickly sent flying away after with the resounding ripples of water.

Logically speaking, Haku's performance now wasn't that impressive though. He was already a Rank three, even though according to him, he had already seemed to have suppressed his cultivation personally, using only Rank two strength to deal with Yami.

Even with Rank two strength, Haku's speed was slightly faster than Yami's, and he had more primeval essence, but with the interference of the wolf pack, his distance with Yami started to increase.

The crucial deciding factor was the difference in physical strength between the two.

Yami had the strength of two boars, while Haku's strength was of a slightly lower quality. Yami could also endure the wolf pack's attacks and continue moving forward. Haku's water shield, although it is able to mitigate some of attacks, could not open a path forward for him, unlike Yami.

"Howl!"

One especially bold lightning wolf began to pay attention and was drawn to Yami and Haku.

It howled, commanding the ordinary lightning wolves around it to give way, opening a path for it instantly.

The lightning wolf wasted no time and spread its limbs, charging towards Yami.

Seeing this scene, the four trapped Gu Masters all showed expressions of worry.

As for Haku, still behind Yami, upon seeing this new development, laughed loudly.

But the next moment, Yami's body disappeared right before Haku's eyes, vanishing from his vision like a fleeting ripple of water.

His laughter cut off abruptly at the sight, the other Gu Masters in the valley being left similarly speechless.

The bold lightning wolf howled angrily after having lost track of Yami, but did not reduce its speed while charging towards Haku to take it's fury out on him instead.

This prompted a smile from Haku, his lips curving once more in amusement.

"Hehehe, this is really interesting- you really are interesting! Hahaha, then I shall start my meal with this appetizer!"

As he finished speaking, his eyes transitioned, changing from black to a shade of blue the same color as that of the sky.

Taking a stance, he propped one leg up like a flamingo, holding out the ice blade, and started to rotate. Quickly picking up speed, the ice blade carved out many waves of sword traces, maneuvering and slashing the air to form a scene similar to a tornado.

The bright sword waves congealed into a blizzard storm and quickly engulfed the wolf pack.

Numerous lightning wolves were torn to shreds by the act, becoming pieces of minced meat flung about by the storm. But not much blood ended up splattering against the surroundings, as it had almost all been completely flash frozen by the icy blizzard storm already.

The bold lightning wolf howled, showing its ferocity against the storm. The Gu worm in its body started to work as well, causing golden sparks of electricity to flicker throughout its rugged coat.

The hair on its body stood on ends, golden electricity flowed like chains, coiling around its body and limbs. Altogether it formed what looked to be a modest chainmail.

Its four paws sprinted and it streaked like a golden shooting star, rushing into the ice blade storm.

"Bam!"

A thunderous explosion sounded through the valley as the ice blade storm came to a stop, a broken piece of the ice blade flying in the air and with a swoosh, stabbed into a mountain rock above.

The white mist dispersed around the area.

The bold lightning wolf laid on the revealed ground, its heart pierced through by an ice blade. Such a fatal attack ended its life almost instantly.

Haku laughed as he retracted the ice blade in his hands, gloating in his victory.

The ice blade itself was broken from the middle down, the blade that managed to survive full of cracks, seemingly in a sorry state in his grip. But Haku did not care as he stretched out his left hand and wiped the blade.

The icy mist from before emanated from his left hand at the touch, spreading across the blade starting from the handle before covering it completely.

Everywhere it reached, the ice blade was regenerated, the edge being sharpened once again. Soon a new tip was fully grown in place of the broken end.

The death of the bold lightning wolf had dispersed the wolf pack, but Yami was nowhere to be seen.

"We will definitely remember Lord Bai Ning Bong's act of saving us!" The few Gu Masters that survived went up and gratefully paid their respects to Haku.

Only Choza stayed on the spot, his expression being uncertain.

Back then, he lost to Haku, and was very indignant, but was let off by the latter. Now, though he had already successfully refined the Monolith Gu, upon seeing Haku again, he did not have any confidence to challenge him anymore.

Haku snorted. Suddenly his arm moved, and the ice blade drew a few shining traces in the air.

"This..."

"Ah!"

The three Gu Masters were caught off guard, not expecting their savior just moments ago to attack. They carried a look of disbelief as they laid on the ground, forever.

"Haku, what are you doing?!" Choza screamed, shocked and angry at the sudden manslaughter.

"Murdering of course. Is something wrong in your head, isn't this obvious?" Haku shrugged and laughed coldly.

"Accursed bastard!" Choza tightly clenched his fists out of rage while he gritted his teeth and scolded the other master. "Our three clans have formed an alliance, yet you attack our Konoha clansman; this is a violation of our alliance treaty! If you have any problems, come at me, I'm here. Nevermind, it is time we settle our grudge from back then!"

Saying so, Choza shouted and took a few steps, charging towards Haku.

He activated the Monolith Gu with all his strength, and all the muscles on his body bulked up while a thick rock skin formed. His entire appearance had turned into a rock man.

"Courting death." Haku laughed coldly, raising his blade.

The sharp ice blade came down relentlessly, first hacking Choza's head, moving down past his brows before carving through his nose, lips and throat. The blade quickly came to a rest after it bisected the Gu Master down past his chest in an instant.

Rock fragments flew out as the ice blade hit the abdomen, and the blade snapped. But the icy mist had already frozen all the remaining life force left in Choza's body.

"Plop."

He fell to the ground with a splatter, as dead as can be.

The rock skin on his body slowly vanished, revealing his true form.

"Looks familiar..." Haku shook the wrist that was hurt by the vibration of the rock; he had pretty much forgotten the incident where he spared Choza.

He shook his head, turning around and facing the wide valley to shout.

"Come out. The Gu Masters you want dead, I've done it for you. Come come come, let's have a life and death match!"

Just as Haku's words had finished, Yami appeared not far away.

The white hair young man's gaze became excited, as he raised his ice blade, slashing towards Yami.

Yami laughed soundlessly at the act, turning around and leaving.

Haku shouted in anger that he was still fleeing, once again chasing Yami relentlessly.

On the way, Yami lured Haku to the battlefield that was the closest, where the Akatsuchi group was fighting against another group of wolves led by a bold lightning wolf.

This pack was obviously lured by Yami as well.

"Everyone put in more effort, the wolf pack is at its limit! The south-east direction sent a distress signal, it's been a while, they need our help!" Akatsuchi urged on his group, but halfway through, he could no longer speak when he saw Yami, and the Haku persistantly behind him.

Ever since Yami surrendered, Akatsuchi no longer cared about him. Thus, his gaze quickly shifted from Yami to Haku.

"Haku!" Akatsuchi's eyes spewed fire upon seeing the white clothed, white haired young man, his heart uncontrollably growing with rage.

Not long ago, Haku had appeared in front of him and attacked without a word, the event still fresh in his mind.

And had been purposely suppressing his cultivation to Rank two.

Akatsuchi was caught off guard, and lost the battle. His personal honor, and the clan's glory, was all trampled by Haku ruthlessly! This to him, was a big disgrace, how could he not be furious?

"Wait, Haku seems to be chasing Yami." Hotsuchi suddenly noticed.

His body was short in stature, his round bald head glowing with light. Hotsuchi is the same age as Yami, but having B grade talent instead, he is the number one talent among Iwa Clan's new Gu Masters of age.

He was a Rank two cultivator as well now, and after getting some experience, had grown up.

Akatsuchi suppressed the urge to attack.

Yami was from the Konoha clan, not from his Iwa Clan. Even though there was the three clan alliance, they are still not close. Since it is an outsider fighting, it is best if one does not get involved.

The Akatsuchi group was about to watch on the sidelines, but how could Yami not expect that? One sentence from him changed their perspective in an instant.

Yami quickly got close to the Akatsuchi group, shouting in a frightened voice.

"I saw the Plunder Gu on him, protect me! Haku is trying to eliminate all witnesses!"

"What?!" Hotsuchi was stunned.

"Plunder Gu? There is only one person that has this Gu worm in Elemental Mountain and that is my cousin Natsuchi!" Kitsuchi's face turned gloomy.

Akatsuchi closed his eyes, fierce light flickering in them. Others might be afraid of Haku and even he was afraid, but this fear didn't represent his weakness and cowardice. In his heart, long was there already thoughts of sacrificing himself for the clan; he had the resolution to fight to the death with Haku!

"Haku, is the Plunder Gu in your possession?" He stepped forward and faced Haku, letting Yami brush past him.

Haku laughed coldly, "So what if it is?"

Kitsuchi's face was as gloomy as water and asked, "Tell me how did my cousin die? Why is his Gu worm in your hands?"

Hotsuchi also asked, "Haku, I respect you as my senior but you secretly seized our Iwa Clan's Gu worm and didn't hand it over. This is an open violation of the alliance treaty!"

After he spoke, he raised a Signal Gu in his hand.

With a bang, bright fireworks burst in the sky.

The colorful light from the fireworks shone upon Haku's face. He laughed, "I have never cared about the dogshit alliance treaty. I only saw someone using the Plunder Gu and thought it was interesting, so I collected it."

Kitsuchi was unable to hold back his anger when he heard this. He gave a furious shout and charged towards Haku, "Haku, you looked while my cousin fought to death and didn't help. You bastard!"

The five person group was an integral whole. For personal or private reasons, the Akatsuchi group were irreconcilable with Haku.

The fight was hard to avoid; the scene immediately turning chaotic.

On one side was Haku facing the Akatsuchi group's attack; on the other side, they were surrounded by wolf pack and still had to face their attacks.

Yami left the battlefield and calmly spectated from far away.

The wolf pack moved together like a large millstone, and the six Gu Masters fought with their lives; the slightest carelessness could land them into the wolves' mouths.

Kitsuchi used Roaming Zombie Gu, his two irises turning gloomy green; Akatsuchi's two eyes were red whereas Haku's pair of pupils were azure like crystals. The fight between these three was the most intense in the battlefield.

Under the Roaming Zombie Gu's ability, Kitsuchi turned into a zombie; his defense was amplified against water and ice, withstanding Haku's attacks. Akatsuchi used Grand Bear Gu; with the strength of two bears, his bowl-sized fists were without rival and even Haku's water barrier was destroyed under their attacks.

It wasn't easy for the remaining three group members to meddle in this fight, they could only do their utmost to fight against the lightning wolves. That bold lightning wolf lured in by Yami could have been easily dealt with, but it had turned into a huge threat now.

"Haku, you will pay for what you have done!" Kitsuchi shouted and charged at Haku.

"Hmph, just with you?" Haku coldly smiled. He nimbly jumped back, pulling apart some distance and flung out his left hand, throwing out five finger-sized icicles.

The icicles struck Kitsuchi's body but Kitsuchi didn't feel any pain whatsoever. When he turned into a zombie, even if his hands and legs were broken, he wouldn't feel any pain.

The cold aura in the icicles could freeze and slow down ordinary people's movements, but it only felt cool and refreshing to Kitsuchi. Zombie physique belonged to yin physiques; it had low resistance to fire, lightning and sunlight, but was very powerful against this type of cold aura.

"Haku, you are still playing in this situation? Unleash your true strength!" Akatsuchi furiously shouted.

Haku had been suppressing his cultivation base to Rank two from the very beginning and was also mostly using Rank two Gu.

Akatsuchi felt like he was being held in contempt, he felt humiliated which caused his anger to burn even more.

"Hahaha, how can you minor characters have the qualifications to make me use my full strength?" Haku coldly laughed; his attacks were becoming more powerful but he was still suppressing his strength and didn't use a Rank three Gu worm.

Yami who was spectating from afar with his hands crossed, clearly understood the reason.

"It is not that he doesn't want to unleash his true strength, but he cannot use it. Haku, heh, he has Northern Dark Ice Soul physique….."

In the oldest legends of this world, all humans are descendants of Genten.

But as the saying goes, the dragon has nine unique sons. There are no two absolutely same people, and even twins have differences.

In this world, the difference that is of the biggest concern is aptitude.

Those that have the aptitude to cultivate could become Gu Masters, going beyond ordinary. Those with no cultivation aptitude were just mortals, the lowest level in the society, who could be trampled upon and played with.

Cultivation aptitudes were divided into four grades; A grade, B grade, C grade and D grade. Everyone knew this.

But actually, there were still more outstanding aptitudes above A grade.

This was a secret. Clans would never carelessly spread this, and only after reaching a certain status in society, could one know this secret.

Akatsuchi and the rest naturally didn't know, even elders and clan leaders might not know. But Yami, who had reached Rank six in his previous life, shedding his mortal body and becoming a Gu immortal, naturally was aware of this.

There were ten types of aptitudes above A grade and they were collectively called Ten Extreme physiques.

"Before Genten died, he gave birth to ten children. The eldest son Asura, second daughter Desolate Ancient Moon….. Among the ten, there was one named Northern Dark Ice Soul. Genten's legends whether real or false, alluded to many secrets in Gu Master's cultivation. Genten's ten kids individually represented ten types of ultimate aptitudes." Yami recalled.

"Any one of the ten extreme physiques is superior to A grade aptitude. The most excellent A grade aptitude can only store ninety nine percent primeval essence in their aperture. But any one of the ten extreme physiques holds full hundred percent primeval essence in their aperture!"

"However, everything exists in balance; the ten extreme physiques which holds hundred percent primeval essence is too perfect and heavens won't easily allow their existence. For instance, in Genten's story, his ten kids didn't have a long life. In reality, it is difficult for the Gu Masters who hold ten extreme physiques to grow and mature, almost all dying an untimely death. Of course, if they can really grow to become a Rank six, they will be able to sweep through same stage opponents and even perform miracles such as fighting a higher rank!"

"Haku who possesses Northern Dark Ice Soul is the same. With hundred percent primeval essence, his aperture is too stressed out and has the risk of collapsing any moment. To decrease this risk, Haku must cultivate and use primeval essence to nurture his aperture walls and increase its strength to be able to support the hundred percent primeval essence. Thus, his cultivation speed is outstanding and shocking."

"However, high cultivation means higher quality primeval essence which subsequently increases the pressure on the aperture, instead increasing the risk. Haku is like a victim in a lone boat in the sea; he doesn't have fresh water and can only drink the sea water to relieve his thirst, but the seawater is salty and will absorb the original moisture content of the body instead, making him even more thirsty."

"The higher his cultivation is, the nearer he is to destruction. Yet he cannot choose not to cultivate, since being from Kiri Village and the one upon whom the clan's expectations lies, he will also face assassination from Iwa and Konoha Village. This forces him to continue to grow stronger. Being the possessor of the Northern Dark Ice Soul, he clearly understands his situation. Knowing he doesn't have much time left and his death being certain, he has thus formed this temperament."

Yami sighed when he thought of this.

This was clearly an irony.

Excessively excellent aptitude didn't lead a Gu Master to have a meteoric rise, but would be the main culprit behind their deaths.

Too much is as bad as too little; people need to drink water and eat food, but if they eat and drink excessively, they could die.

From another angle, no matter which world, there is no true perfection. There is no perfect love, no perfect work.

Excessively perfect will just lead to destruction.

In Yami's previous life, three years after the wolf tide, Haku's cultivation inevitably reached Rank four realm. His aperture couldn't support the burden from the primeval essence and ultimately, it exploded.

Ten extreme physiques wasn't tolerated by the heavens and earth, and the self-detonation of such a heaven-defying thing was like the most perfect song, its power outstanding; directly annihilating everyone in the three villages and turning the whole Elemental Mountain into an absolute death ice domain.

Fortunately by that time, because of Naruto who had been making things difficult for Yami who only had an average cultivation, Yami could only join a caravan to go away, thus luckily avoiding this disaster.

To delay his death, Haku used Gu worms to dilute his Rank three silver primeval essence into Rank two red steel primeval essence, of his own accord. He also rarely used Rank three Gu worms at the same time.

This was simply because Rank three Gu worms consumed great amounts of red steel primeval essence every time, resulting in the strength waning if it continued. Instead, it was better to continue using Rank two Gu worms which would be of much more help to Haku in battles.

This was the real reason Haku suppressed his cultivation.

If not, having strength but choosing to bind one's own hands and feet, landing in a dangerous state, was something only a brainless retard would do.

Haku was smart and intelligent, he had received great training and education, so how could he do such a foolish thing?

Except, such a temperament at his young age was indeed unusual. But as someone who was about to die, why would he have misgivings in his behavior?

Such disregard and fearlessness prevented him from being assimilated into the system, and nurtured a heart of the demonic path in him.

Otherwise, with his living environment - countless expectations, great trainings, holding honor, fighting enemies, bright future - he would have already been assimilated into the organization system and nurtured a leader's temperament.

Haku was actually a pitiful child, and Yami had no wish to deal with him before. But since he wanted to kill Yami, Yami also didn't mind making use of him first before removing this misfortune early.

The battle was still continuing.

In this while, the situation had already changed.

Bold lightning wolf was killed by Haku and the wolf pack had ran away in defeat. Akatsuchi group's healing Gu Master fell under Haku's blade but he had paid a heavy price for this; his right arm was viciously punched by Akatsuchi and it seemed to have fractured as it was hanging limply throughout the battle.

However, all of these couldn't hinder him from occupying the upper hand.

Akatsuchi was a top elite amongst Rank two Gu Masters, his strength equal to Hashirama and Torune. Kitsuchi was a newly rising defense expert. Hotsuchi was the genius newbie and now had Rank two battle power. There was also another Gu Master, but even after combining their strength, these four were still suppressed by Haku.

One should know Haku had already fought a battle before which had consumed a lot of his red steel primeval essence. He also killed bold lightning wolf and the healing Gu Master, resulting in his right arm losing its ability to move; he could only abandon using his ice blade with his habitual right hand and switch to his left. By doing this, he had to temporarily abandon using his icicles; his offensive power almost reducing by half.

He was still occupying the upper hand in such situation and his dominance was even becoming more solid.

"It is after all the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique. Although he used Gu worm to dilute his primeval essence and sealed the true advantage of the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, the primeval essence recovery speed is still maintained. His advantage will continue to increase the longer the battle lasts." Yami looked at the situation and inwardly sighed.

"My current battle strength is not enough to defeat him," Yami calmly admitted this point.

Yami only had C grade aptitude with 44% primeval essence. Even the combined strength of B grade aptitudes' Akatsuchi, Hotsuchi and Kitsuchi were being suppressed by Haku. It was obvious that if Yami faced Haku by himself, his situation would only become more difficult than Akatsuchi and the rest.

"However, not being able to defeat you doesn't mean I can't kill you." Yami coldly smiled.

This was the accumulated wisdom from five hundred years of experience.

Although they had similar reflections, compared to this centuries old devil, Haku was only a little devil forced into it by his cruel fate.

Cold air blew all over the place, accompanying ice blades in flight. Steel fists howled in the wind, and fangs growled their fury.

Akatsuchi and the other's fight against Haku had reached its climax.

Not that much time had passed since the battle began, to be honest. But as the pressure from Haku intensified, Akatsuchi and the others started to feel that time dragged on longer with the difficulty he posed.

Kitsuchi's face was dim as water, Hotsuchi's forehead dripping with cold sweat, while Akatsuchi maintained a serious gaze.

At this point, even Akatsuchi had to suppress his anger and admit Haku's formidable strength. Even though Haku suppressed his Rank three cultivation, and only fought with Rank two Gu worms, he displayed strength that was able to suppress their entire group.

But even then, the truth was that Haku had not even given it his all. This was not intentional to prove a point, rather, it was a precautionary measure against Yami.

To Akatsuchi and the others, their motive was simple, it was to arrest or kill Haku.

But to Haku, the situation was more complicated.

He needed to fight back the Akatsuchi group on one end, while simultaneously being on guard to prevent Yami's sneak attack on the other end.

He had seen Yami using the Stealth Scales Gu with his own eyes, thus in battle he needed to make sure to divert some of his attention to prevent Yami's attack.

But till now, Yami had not made a move.

"Did he leave? Impossible! Although it is our first meeting, he is not the type to retreat! He will definitely act. He is just biding his time." Haku waved his ice blade and suppressed Akatsuchi, while his thoughts raced in his mind.

Not only did he have to use his brawn to fight the Akatsuchi group, he also had to compete with Yami using his wit.

Yami refusing to attack was increasingly putting pressure on himself. A sheathed sword is the most dangerous, because one would not be able to predict where the sword is going to stab.

Although Yami had not struck, and was secretly watching the battle, he had been able to divert Haku's attention all this time. If not for this diversion, the Akatsuchi group would have lost long ago, otherwise they would not be able to hold on for so long.

"This Haku is very meticulous. First he killed the bold lightning wolf decisively, reducing a pawn that I could use. Next he risked getting injured to killing the healing Gu Master in Akatsuchi group. All these actions are the most sensible decisions to make in his situation. Although he is engaging in serious combat with Akatsuchi group, he is still holding back to prevent my attack, in fact..."

Under the shadow of a nearby tree, Yami crossed his arm as he watched, his eyes shining with uncertainty.

It was not that he did not want to strike, but he just could not find an opportunity to.

He was not anxious though.

The longer this dragged on, the more battle strength would be drained from Haku. The Ten Extreme bodies had a supreme primeval essence recovery rate, much more than A grade, but it still was spent up over time.

The longer Yami waited, the more primeval essence used up in Haku's aperture, and the more the scales of victory would shift towards Yami.

If Haku's aperture had no primeval essence left, so what if he is the Northern Dark Ice Soul Body? One moonblade and he's beheaded!

Yami knew this, and Haku was aware of this fact as well.

Although he currently had the upper hand, his heart was getting heavier.

"I cannot continue like this!" Haku's blue eyes shone as he took a large step back, pulling some distance from the Akatsuchi group.

Next he gulped, his throat expanding like something had risen from his stomach into his mouth.

His jaw was raised high as he opened his mouth in difficulty.

An icy blue colored small bird popped out of his mouth, its head raising above his white teeth. It looked around and soon found a locked onto a specific gaze.

Jumping out of Haku's mouth, the small, icy bird flapped its wings strongly, flying towards Akatsuchi.

The the small blue bird was cute like a pigeon, but Akatsuchi and the others' faces lost their colour upon seeing it.

"Rank three Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu?"

"Get away from it, quickly!"

The Akatsuchi group frantically tried to dodge around, but this blue ice bird was not like the moonblade; once sent out, it was locked on to the target.

"Boom!"

It smashed into the support Gu Master in Akatsuchi group, before promptly exploding.

Frosty air blew all over the place, and the piercing blue light from the explosion lit up the entire battlefield.

The next second, the blue light dispersed, and a partially transparent block of ice was revealed, a cold watery blue in color.

The Gu Master was visibly sealed within the ice block, his face still retaining the fear and anxiety before death, but he had lost all signs of life.

Even though Haku was already a Rank three Gu Master, once a Rank three Gu worm was used, his suppressed Rank two primeval essence in his aperture would be rapidly used up. At the same time, it cannot display the true power of a Rank three Gu worm. Moreover, once used, during the following period, the enemy can make use of this opportunity to attack.

But Akatsuchi's group of three were frozen in shock instead, startled by this Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu.

Haku did not follow up the attack, and instead turned around and left, attempting to leave the battlefield.

This was a wise decision, for if he continued, the situation would become more disadvantageous for him.

"Damn it..."

"Haku, don't run if you have guts!"

"Big brother Jutsuchi was killed by him, kill him, take revenge for brother Jutsuchi!"

Akatsuchi group cursed loudly, but could not catch up.

Originally, the four of them were barely enough to form an encirclement, but now that they had one less person, their blockade was easily broken by Haku.

Seeing that Haku was about to leave the battlefield, at this time, a moonblade flew out from among the bushes, and a person leapt out and quickly following after.

"Bam!"

Haku's ice blade waved, and dispelled the moonblade. But his abdomen was hit by someone, throwing him back by three large steps.

During this period, Akatsuchi and the others were sobered from their stupor, getting close and surrounded Haku again.

Haku ignored the three, staring at the newcomer instead, chuckling.

"So you finally appeared . . ."

"It's Yami!" Hotsuchi's eyes shone, seeing a glimmer of hope.

"Yami, good job!" Kitsuchi was overjoyed, shouting.

Akatsuchi stayed silent; although he seemed rash, his thoughts were more meticulous than anyone else. Yami did not strike earlier, but suddenly appeared . . . was he watching the battle all along? The thought of this possibility brought him unease.

Yami smiled mildly, showing a victorious appearance, but his heart sank. Haku's act of retreating was to force him to appear. Yami was clear of his intentions, and saw through it, but so what if he did? He had to show up.

Akatsuchi's expression was also taken into account, and he had expected it.

"Rest assured, everyone." He opened his mouth. "I've informed the clan, just hang in there for a little longer, reinforcements are coming!"

Akatsuchi was relieved at once.

Hotsuchi, Kitsuchi's battle spirits were ignited, and Haku suddenly laughed loudly, "Haha, so he's called Yami, such an interesting guy... I only want to kill you even more now!"

"I'm afraid you're not capable enough to achieve that." Yami's eyes shone with cold light, taking a step forward.

"Haku, the heavens want you dead, you're finished!" Kitsuchi gritted his teeth, running into Haku.

"Haku, you are too arrogant, you will pay the price today!" Hotsuchi growled, moving towards Haku's back.

"Yami, stay back a little, back us up and prevent Haku from escaping." Akatsuchi said.

If Yami interfered, it would destroy the chemistry the three of them shared.

Battle continued.

Yami's expression was tranquil while he continued to constantly attack, treating Akatsuchi's words as if they were air.

The Akatsuchi group frowned; outsider interference would cause the battle formation to be chaotic, and their cooperation would start to fail. But Yami's every attack was ruthless and decisive, having a strong grasp of opportunity, instead being of great help to them.

At first, Akatsuchi growled threateningly at him, but soon, he shut the fuck up. His frowning face slowly eased, and his brows started to raise instead, revealing his surprise towards Yami.

Yami did not strike much, but each attack he made had great implications on the battle. Once his master level methods were displayed, he instantly grasped the battle in his hands.

Akatsuchi's group of five originally were at a disadvantage when fighting Haku, and ended up getting two of their members killed. But once Yami joined in, along with the three's combined combat prowess, they managed to suppress Haku into a corner.

"Haku, just go and die!"

Akatsuchi growled loudly, jumping up and landing heavily. His ten fingers intertwined to form a punch, slamming toward Haku.

Haku wanted to dodge, but Yami appeared at that moment, and at the same time shot out a moonblade, blocking the direction where he wanted to leap.

Haku had no choice but to endure Akatsuchi's attack.

"Water Shield Gu!"

From his nostrils, two lines of water vapour coiled around his body, forming a spherical barrier of condensed moisture.

With a loud impact and a compressed pop, Akatsuchi's heavy punch landed on the barrier, breaking through it instantly.

But this act also caused the punch to lose all its built up velocity and allowed Haku to escape death.

Even so, Akatsuchi took a glance at Yami, showing signs of admiration. If not for his superb cooperation, this hit would've been avoided by Haku. It would not have forced Haku to take the hit head on, expending his primeval essence.

"Water Shield Gu again..."

Yami did not mind Akatsuchi's gaze, but focused on Haku, frowning.

It was this Water Shield Gu that alleviated Haku's predicament. The defensive power of the water shield was superior to even the White Jade Gu.

But it had a weakness — he needed to form a ball shape and rely on the moving water to draw the force away, dispersing the damage in order to display its full defensive capabilities.

If Haku was up against a wall, he cannot form a ball shape and his defense power would be greatly reduced.

There are many forests on Elemental Mountain, but even then Haku had been very careful, making sure not to get into a tight spot.

"As long as I beat this Water Shield Gu, I can put Haku in a tight spot. But how?" Yami was thinking, but suddenly Haku's mouth opened, and a new blue bird flew out.

Akatsuchi and the others were fearful of this attack, but Yami was not flustered in the least.

He snorted coldly, shooting a moonblade.

With a bam, the moonblade hit the ice bird, causing it to explode.

Haku growled in a low voice, he was too close by, and after the ice bird exploded, he was hit by it too.

The impact caused him to fly up and then fall on the the ground. At the same time, half of his left limb was frozen, losing its ability to fight.

"Divine opportunity!" Seeing this, Akatsuchi's eyes shone with brilliance, shouting "Go die!" and his arms gathered to form another punch towards Haku.

This hit was too heavy, and as Haku was on the ground, the Water Shield Gu's defensive capabilities were less than half of the usual; if this hit his head, there was no doubt that he, Haku, would instantly die.

Seeing that Akatsuchi's fist was about to hit Haku, Hotsuchi and Kitsuchi both showed a joyful expression.

Only Yami stood far away, his eyes shining with solemnness.

With his understanding of Haku, how could he commit such a beginner's mistake?

As expected, at this moment!

Haku suddenly struck; his right hand and forearm's flesh all turned into a transparent blue frosty ice, from outside his finger bones could be seen.

His fingers gathered straight, forming a palm blade and striking like lightning, puncturing Akatsuchi's heart!

"Urgh!" Akatsuchi's descending body came to a halt.

He stared with wide-opened eyes, lowering his head and staring at his chest in disbelief.

"How can this be?"

"Lord Akatsuchi!"

With the sudden twist of events, Kitsuchi and Hotsuchi could not believe it.

"You think my right arm was really broken by your punch? Naive! I already used the Rank three ice muscle Gu, and trained a body of ice muscles, this is the ultimate defense! The reason I pretended earlier was to give a certain someone a surprise." Haku slowly got up, showing disdain in his eyes, and at the end of his speech, he looked towards Yami.

Yami's expression was calm, staring at him too.

Plop.

"… Haku..." Akatsuchi opened his mouth, saying his last words with difficulty. Haku's ice hand spread out some cold air and froze his heart, cutting off his life force!

"Scheming scumbag, I will fight it out with you!" Hotsuchi saw Akatsuchi's death firsthand, and under the extreme pain and anger, he ignored his own danger and charged towards Haku.

"Hotsuchi, calm down!' Kitsuchi acted in time, restraining Hotsuchi.

"Group leader is dead, we are no longer his match, quickly leave, I'll block him!" Kitsuchi controlled his sadness and said.

"Brother Kitsuchi..." Hotsuchi was dumbfounded, his eyes turning red.

Kitsuchi shrugged his hand backwards and took a step forwards, blocking Haku.

Shadow Bond Gu!

The shadow below his feet suddenly came alive, distorting creepily, connecting itself to Haku's shadow.

"I have the Shadow Bond Gu! Once I get hurt, Haku takes the same damage. He won't kill me so easily. Hotsuchi, you are still young and have better talent than me or group leader, go away quickly!" Kitsuchi's gaze was locked onto Haku as he shouted.

"Brother Kitsuchi!" Hotsuchi's eyes were teary, he knew the weakness of the Shadow Bond Gu.

In the previous battle, Kitsuchi had used the Gu worm too, but once Haku pulled sufficient distance, the shadow would split. Kitsuchi saying this was just to console him.

Especially now, Kitsuchi did not have enough primeval essence; he had already used up too much, and even the Roaming Zombie Gu had stopped working.

Hotsuchi's feet seems to have taken roots, as he refused to move a step. He turned around, staring at Yami, "Yami, why are the reinforcements not here yet?!"

Yami did not speak, only staring firmly at Haku.

Haku moved his right arm, and after a while, his right arm regained its fleshy state. He used a mocking tone, "Reinforcements? Hehehe, they would've come long ago if it was the case, but this is all a lie. Tsk tsk tsk, you are even more naive than the other one. You really think such a cheap method like Shadow Bond Gu can restrain me?"

He stared at the shadow in disdain, not giving a fuck.

"Yami, is this true?" Hotsuchi clenched his fist, eyes speaking fire as he asked furiously.

Yami did not care about him, but stared at Haku, his mouth curling into a smile, "That move earlier, it expended your primeval essence right? By now, how much primeval essence do you still have in your aperture?"

Akatsuchi used a defensive Gu worm but it was weaker than Yami's White Jade Gu. The result was that his defense was penetrated, but such an attack is clearly not owned by a Rank two Gu Master.

According to the earlier situation, Yami guessed that Haku used the Rank three Frost Demon Gu.

This Gu's ability was strong, renowned among the Rank three Gu, but overuse harmed the user. Joint problems were just a light symptom, but if serious, one's muscles could be frozen and damaged, thus it needed to be used with other Gu worms.

Haku had said earlier that his muscles had become ice muscles, and could take the cold of the frost. Thus, when used together with the Frost Demon Gu, they complemented each other.

This was still Haku using Rank two primeval essence to forcefully activate a Rank three Gu worm, so it had to have high consumption, but he needed to use such a method to break the stalemate.

Haku's expression changed; the move earlier had caused a great consumption of his primeval essence, and Yami saw through it.

Thus, after killing Akatsuchi, he did not strike again, but used the talking time to recover.

He laughed heartily, nodding, and confessed, "Not bad, my primeval essence is running dry, I left my right limb unused to lure you to attack. But you didn't fall for it. Hehehe, the real battle is just starting, isn't it?"

Yami squinted.

If Haku denied it, he would attack without doubt. But Haku confessed, showing a look of fearlessness...

Either that Haku knew he was going to die, showing no fear towards death, or he probably had other strong trump cards and had great confidence in surviving.

Ordinary Gu Masters only had three to five Gu worms, even Hashirama and Torune, were as such.

But there are exceptions.

For example Yami, with the Moonglow Gu, White Jade Gu, Stealth Scales Gu, Four Flavour Liquor worm, Spring Autumn Cicada, Earth Communication Ear Grass and Nine Leaf Vitality Grass, he had seven Gu worms in his possession.

Haku was the Kiri Clan's hope and had the Northern Dark Ice Soul body, an absolute genius. From the start of his cultivating journey, he had received the full support of his clan, his wealth definitely greater than Yami.

Up till now, he had displayed over six Gu worms. Yami was sure that he had others.

And these Gu worms allowed him to be calm despite being in this position of having little primeval essence.

Actually, the most troublesome kind of opponent is like him.

Not only having talent, but not fearing death, and having large amount of Gu worms in hand.

With these three, it greatly affected a Gu Master's battle in terms of victory or loss. Especially Gu worms, with a strong or special one, it can allow a Gu Master to overturn the situation.

Haku's Frost Demon Gu was a Rank three Gu worm, so even with Yami's White Jade Gu defending, he could be penetrated. This is also why Yami had not engaged Haku personally.

Yami had used Choza, Akatsuchi and others to fish out Haku's secrets. After all, only knowing one's enemy can one be assured of victory.

In comparing talent, Yami was only a C grade. Compared to Haku, it was a world of difference. Haku started cultivating earlier and had the clan's assistance, and he had more outstanding Gu worms in his possession than Yami.

In terms of temperament, his fearlessness towards death made him almost invulnerable.

The difference between the two was that Haku was strong, and Yami was weak. This is the truth, he had to accept it and understand it.

But battles are interesting because the strong might not necessarily win, and the weak might not always fall.

Yami wanting to win against the odds, it was not impossible, but he had to use all of the methods he had, and make use of all the strength he could gather.

"Choza was just the beginning, and Akatsuchi group is not the end." Thinking so, Yami struck.

With a moonblade, a head flew away, and blood spewed!

This moment, Haku's iris shrunk to pin-size, his face changing colour.

Yami's moonblade did not attack him, but was aimed at Kitsuchi's head.

Kitsuchi did not expect Yami's betrayal; Haku's pressure was too great, and all his attention was gathered on the latter.

He did not have much primeval essence left, so to conserve them, he did not maintain the Roaming Zombie Gu, thus getting one-shotted.

Bam!

Haku's face was pale as he vomited a mouthful of blood, and at the same time, his ears, nose and eyes had blood traces.

Ever since the battle started, this was the most severe injury he had sustained.

Shadow Bond Gu!

With the shared damage effect, when the Shadow Bond Gu Master sustains an injury, the chain-linked Gu Master takes 10% of the damage. Now that Kitsuchi is dead, his injuries were connected through the shadow and transmitted to Haku.

This injury with a direct effect, even if Haku had the Water Shield Gu, it cannot block against it.

"Yami, what have you done?!" A second later, Hotsuchi came back from shock and shouted in a furious voice, heartbroken.

Yami ignored him, his body glowing with white jade light as he charged towards Haku.

Haku getting such an injury, his body was wavering, and his head was dizzy, his battle strength dropped drastically. Seeing Yami attacking, he retreated immediately.

"Haku, didn't you want a life and death battle?" Yami chased relentlessly.

Haku gritted his teeth, escaping silently. His footsteps were messy, but he forced himself to focus, ignoring Yami's taunting.

Although he knew he was a dying man and did not fear death, he was not stupid, and with such a dangerous situation, his heart grew calmer.

Hotsuchi stood on the spot, not choosing to help Yami chase Haku.

His heart was filled with pain and anger. He hated Haku, and also detested Yami.

Haku and Yami moved closely, traversing the valley.

As time passed, Haku's injuries slowly recovered, and his nose and eyes stopped bleeding. Slowly his footsteps became more composed.

He did not simply run away, but during this time, used his Gu worm to heal his body's injuries.

Yami's pursued and his heart was secretly shocked.

"Previously Haku's primeval essence was almost fully expended, but during this time, the amount he recovered was enough to heal his own injuries. Northern Dark Ice Soul body, Ten Extreme talents, what sort of primeval essence recovery speed is this!"

The more he knew, the more determined he was to kill Haku.

Moonglow Gu!

Yami sent a moonblade around the size of a face flying; it flew across the sky, emitting a buzzing sound.

Haku heard this sound and tried to dodge, but his arm still got sliced away.

An injury appeared and blood poured out, but the injury was quickly covered by a layer of frost, stopping the blood.

Haku had obtained the ice muscles, and once this is achieved, it was like the Black and White Boar Gu's strength increase — it required no primeval essence to sustain.

But Haku's heart continued to sink. Before his old injuries healed, new injuries would come; evidently, Yami wanted to slowly grind him to death!

"Hehehe, there has never been anyone who forced me into such a state! Yami, you... are interesting. Once I recover adequately, I'll definitely kill you!" Haku screamed in his heart as he ran.

The killing intent from Yami had him feel suffocated.

This to him, was an unprecedented experience.

The thick aura of death made his body shudder, and it developed a twisted sense of excitement.

Behind him, Yami was chasing and getting closer.

"Take this!" He suddenly flicked his wrist, and threw a black coloured Gu worm.

Yami's steps came to a halt as if an enemy had appeared, but once he got closer, he found out that this was the Plunder Gu from Natsuchi.

Splat.

With a light sound, Yami caught this Gu worm in his hands.

The Plunder Gu was a black beetle, and at a normal size, its head had a pair of metal antenna, and its back had white spots.

Once the Spring Autumn Cicada revealed its aura, Yami easily refined this Plunder Gu and kept it in its aperture with some use of its primeval essence.

He continued chasing.

For Haku to even use such a method, it showed the severity of his injuries and the desperate situation he was in. But with this action, the distance between Yami and him had been pulled apart again.

"Unfortunately, I lack a movement Gu worm. If I had such a Gu worm, I would have caught up to Haku already." Yami sighed in his heart.

"This Yami, he actually refined the Plunder Gu instantly?" Haku was shocked in his heart.

He obtained this Plunder Gu and had been refining it for the last few days. Although there were improvements, the process was tough and he did not succeed. This is also because Natsuchi's death had an indirect relationship with him. The will of this Plunder Gu originated from Natsuchi, thus, it had greater hatred towards Haku and raised the difficulty in refining it.

But Yami instantly refined this Plunder Gu, and Haku who only used his side vision to see this could feel his heart turn shocked and dismayed.

There are a few Gu worms that can achieve this.

But Haku had never owned one, to think that Yami would instead?

Unknowingly, he had become more wary of Yami. Yami's image in his heart had intensified in a dangerous and mysterious way.

However, as time passed, Yami's heart was the one that sank.

The longer it dragged, the more primeval essence would be recovered by Haku, and the lesser injuries he has. Yami's advantage over him would become milder and milder.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to kill him this time!" Yami sighed in his heart.

According to this development, it won't be long before Haku's injury and primeval essence recover sufficiently.

Although Yami had been using the Moonglow Gu to intensify the injuries on him, the Northern Dark Ice Soul body's talent is too outstanding, it can be said to be a gift from heaven. The primeval essence recovery rate was even faster than Yami using primeval stones.

"Unless... the people in front encountered a wolf pack, and are trapped. Or there will be a Gu Master group appearing, and can temporarily block Haku. But if it is a Kiri Clan group, I'm in danger."

Yami's thoughts flowed like a whirlpool as he started to have intentions to retreat.

Their chase was a long road, but in the middle they did not encounter a single pack of wolves or a Gu Master group. This meant to say that Haku who is selecting the escape route also has a recon Gu worm and can avoid danger.

Elemental Mountain is so huge, he can escape in all directions, Yami has no way to force Haku to run in one direction.

"Against the wolf tide, the most important thing is to be united and not be isolated by the wolf tide. Once you are isolated, you are in danger," Hashirama told Naruto as they were rushing on the road.

"If the opponent is the bold lightning wolf pack, we can defend using terrain, and defeat them head on. But if it is the frenzy lightning wolf pack, the first thing to do is retreat, then use the Signal Gu, and wait for the surrounding Gu Masters to regroup. We need at least three groups to cooperate to have a good chance of defeating the frenzy lightning wolf. Of course, opponents in the wolf tide are not just lightning wolves, but also Gu Masters."

Saying so, Hashirama paused.

The other four knew who he was talking about.

Evidently, it was Haku.

These days, Haku had been challenging people all over, suppressing his cultivation and only using the Rank two red steel primeval essence, and found trouble with Akatsuchi, Torune and the rest.

From what he declared, Hashirama is his next target.

"If we encounter Haku..." Hashirama continued, "The best would be to avoid battling."

This sentence entered Naruto's ears and caused his heart to feel disturbed.

In his heart, Hashirama, although mild on the outside, had a tough personality and stuck close to his principles. From Hashirama, he could feel a strong sense of kinship. Towards Hashirama, he respected and loved him, and naturally was not willing to see Haku being superior to Hashirama.

"Everyone is discussing Haku, what kind of person is he?" Naruto frowned and asked.

The three other people in the group became solemn.

Hashirama smiled kindly towards Naruto, "He is Elemental Mountain's number one genius! Naruto, listen well. You are still young, and have A grade talent, you might be able to surpass him in the future. So before you fully grow up, avoid direct conflicts with him. Remember the story I told you before? Lowering your head and raising it — sometimes, people have to lower their heads."

Naruto looked towards Hashirama, and when they made eye contact, he could not help but nod and respond, "I understand, Brother Hashirama. Please be rest assured."

"Good..." Hashirama was still speaking, when suddenly the recon Gu Master interrupted, "Not too far away ahead, there is a Gu Master rapidly moving."

Everyone's expressions changed.

The healing Gu Master Mito's expression was solemn, "Must be a small group that got scattered by the wolf pack, let's go save them."

Naruto said instead, "Could it be Haku, doesn't he travel alone usually?"

"It could be him, or not. But if it really is a Gu Master that got lost, no matter which village, they are our alliance mate. We have to go save them," Hashirama said, turning direction and charging towards the Gu Master.

The four around him followed closely.

But quickly, the recon Gu Master spoke, "It is not a Gu Master, behind the first Gu Master, there is another one."

"It's actually two Gu Masters huh. It seems that the situation is just like Sister Mito had said. It should be a group that got separated by the wolf packs," Naruto Uzumaki sighed a breath of relief.

Hashirama's expression was unchanging, but the other three's expression became more relaxed.

At this point, if one was observing from a higher point of view, they would see Hashirama's group, Yami and Haku, getting closer along the mountain road.

"Oh?" Haku's expression changed. He had a recon Gu, and he felt that a group of five Gu Masters were approaching.

He quickly changed his direction.

Although he had a recon-type Gu worm, it could not detect the identities of the people ahead. Every Gu worm had one ability, thus it had pros and cons.

Taking Yami's Earth Communication Ear Grass for example, it can hear noise and is most sensitive to footsteps, but it cannot discern information like male or female. And if a Gu Master uses the Silent Step Gu, they can conceal their footsteps and he would not be able to detect them.

Not knowing who it was, to play it safe, Haku chose to avoid them.

But this time, the situation was different. Hashirama's group was full of elites, and their recon Gu Master was a professional as well.

"There's someone!" Soon after, Yami detected the existence of Hashirama group.

He was sprinting, and his right ear had roots growing out, but did not go into the ground, thus his detection range was not even half of its peak.

Haku changed his running direction again.

But Hashirama group followed closely, changing their direction to match.

This way, be it Haku or Yami, their expressions turned serious.

The two were extremely clever, they knew at once: This unknown group is the biggest uncertainty, it would definitely affect the result of the battle.

"If it is a Kiri Clan group, I will immediately use the Stealth Scales Gu and retreat. But if it is the other two clans, hehe." Yami's eyes shone with coldness.

He knew that this decision carried certain risks.

If it was a Kiri Clan group and the Gu Masters among them had a detection method, he would be chased into a dead end.

But if he lost this prime opportunity, he would probably never have another shot at killing Haku.

Furthermore, whichever clan the Gu Masters are from, Yami had a 66% chance, while Haku only had one third, so Yami had reason to gamble.

As they sprinted, the two parties continued to get closer.

"We can almost see them, right behind that turning point," the recon Gu Master pointed at a curve along the mountain path.

They could not help but slow their footsteps, awaiting the meeting further ahead.

A white figure turned around the corner, and appeared in front of them.

"Haku!" Naruto shouted in dismay, he had obviously seen Haku's portrait before.

The other four, even Hashirama's expression sank.

"Haku is in such a sorry state, he must've encountered a frenzy lightning wolf pack."

"Hmph, he deserves this, travelling alone in the wolf tide, what airs is he trying to put on?"

Everyone at once, did not go up and meet with him.

Haku's movements and expression, showed signs of escaping, this caused Hashirama group to feel happy internally.

But at this moment, Yami shouted from over the corner, "Haku, why are you running? I must kill you today!"

Saying this, he was trying to test water.

Using the Earth Communication Ear Grass, he knew that around the corner, there was an unknown group of five.

If it is a Kiri Clan group, this proclamation would invite their intense rebuttal.

Around the corner, Hashirama and the others heard this and their eyeballs rolled wide.

"What's going on?"

"There's actually someone chasing and trying to kill Haku?"

"Did I get it wrong, something like this is happening?"

"Getting Haku into such a pathetic state, who in the world is behind him?"

Mito could not help but look at each other, a look of shock all over their faces.

Naruto Uzumaki was shocked and suspicious, "This voice, why is it so familiar?"

Before he could remember the owner of the voice, Yami turned around the corner.

"What?" Hashirama's serious expression turned into dumbfoundedness.

The other four stared with their eyes wide opened; after seeing Yami appear, their eyeballs almost dropped.

"This, this, this!" Mito opened her mouth wide, big enough to swallow a duck egg.

"Big brother!" Naruto was tongue tied.

"It's him?" Even Hashirama with outstanding composure, was shocked beyond words.

Who was Haku?

The number one genius of Elemental mountain—someone who could single-handedly change the structure of the three clans, whose cultivation speed left everyone dumbfounded, dimming the luster of even A grade geniuses. No one doubted his future accomplishments; even his enemies had no choice but to accept the fact his talent was unparalleled.

However, now someone was actually making this genius flee in such a wretched state.

No one among the Hashirama group expected this.

What was even more astonishing was that the person chasing after Haku was actually from their clan: Yami.

Regarding their impressions of Yami, they were mainly based around the arena battles and chasing away River Swallowing Toad. And since the moment Yami had admitted defeat to Akatsuchi, his true strength was widely underestimated.

"When did Yami become so powerful?"

The Hashirama group found this difficult to accept.

Yami turned around the corner.

"Hashirama!" His mind jolted when he saw the Hashirama group.

"I won the gamble. Haku, today will be the day you die," Yami thought. He shouted, "Little brother, you were here! Great! Quickly stop Haku! He is a heinous murderer who killed the Akatsuchi group and even our clan's Choza group!"

"What?"

"But our clans have signed a treaty!"

"No, nothing is too excessive for Haku."

"So it was like that! No wonder Yami was able to chase Haku….."

The Hashirama group was shocked and came to a realization. It seemed that after Haku had fought several intense battles, his fighting power had fallen to its lowest state—allowing Yami to luckily seize the upper hand.

"Am I really going to die here? No, I have just enough primeval essence to self-detonate the Frost Demon Gu. I still have hope!" Haku thought in his mind. In front of him was the Hashirama group and behind him was Yami. The situation was extremely unfavorable.

Actually, there was a rift in Yami and Naruto's relationship; Naruto naturally wouldn't heed Yami's words.

However, Haku didn't know of this. As an outsider, he only saw the similarity in appearance between Naruto and Yami, and firmly made a choice.

He lifted his right arm, pouring all the hard-earned primeval essence that he had recovered into the Frost Demon Gu in his right palm.

The muscles in his right arm transformed into a light blue ice. One could clearly see the white bones of his arm within the ice.

Bang!

With an explosive sound, Haku's whole right arm suddenly self-detonated.

Steam and mist arose, and an intense chill started to crazily pervade the surroundings.

Snap, crack.

Pure, white frost spread onto the narrow mountain path in the blisteringly hot summer, covering the soil and the trees. The temperature abruptly dropped.

"He sacrificed his entire right arm!" Naruto was aghast by Haku's ruthless move.

"Quick, retreat." Hashirama grabbed Naruto and hurriedly ran away.

Great amounts of frost rushed towards them like the wolf tide.

It would be very troublesome if they actually got frozen.

Yami retreated to a distance of hundred steps along with the Hashirama group as the onslaught of frost gradually dwindled.

Originally, the mountain path had been full of lush trees, filled with the fragrance of wild plants. Now, it had become a world of ice. The trees were all frozen and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground.

Yami stepped onto the snow and approached the middle of the mountain path.

Haku's whole body was frozen in ice like an insect in amber, his expression still showing the malevolent decisiveness and ruthlessness of his personality.

"He…. suicided?" Naruto muttered. The Hashirama group had quickly followed after Yami.

"No!" Hashirama's expression was very heavy. "Haku has already formed ice muscles, this layer of ice crystals won't freeze him to death and will instead act as his armor, giving him time to recover."

Yami stared closely at Haku and threw a moonblade.

Screech.

The moonblade produced a crisp sound when it struck the ice crystals.

On the three meters high and two meters wide ice crystal, there was only a shallow scar. But in just a moment, the cold aura within the ice crystal filled the injury and the scar disappeared.

"Yami, is what you said earlier true?" Hashirama turned his gaze towards Yami.

"Of course. Only Hotsuchi remains of the Akatsuchi group and he can testify for me. We can't stay here for too long; the details will have to wait. We must quickly leave this place." Yami nodded and answered.

He had made up his mind to leave.

He knew he was unable to destroy this ice crystal. Even if they were to combine their strengths to destroy it, it would waste a lot of time and primeval essence.

If Haku broke out of the ice, their fighting strength would have dropped and his fighting strength would have recovered, making it a bad situation if a battle started.

"Leave? Why should we leave?" Naruto couldn't refrain from asking in a loud voice. "Haku has already destroyed his right arm and with the battles he went through, he is tired both mentally and physically. We can break open this ice crystal and activate the Signal Gu for the clan's reinforcements to eliminate him! This is an extremely rare opportunity."

Everyone's hearts were moved by these words.

"Since Yami could chase Haku and try to kill him, why can't we do the same?" Several Gu Masters looked at each other and they couldn't help but have such thoughts.

"If we kill Haku, we will become great heroes of the Konoha clan!"

"But if we kill him, won't the Kiri Village start a war in their anger? And now, there is the wolf tide…."

"No, it is exactly because there is a wolf tide that even if we kill Haku, Kiri Village will just have to swallow their bitterness."

"Right, a dead genius isn't a genius!"

The group members discussed, their minds set on the fame and glory.

"Truly stupid, how can you imagine the power of the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique?" Yami squinted his eyes while sneering inwardly. He was not going to accompany these people if they wanted to look for death.

Hashirama also hesitated.

He, no doubt, had much deeper understanding of Haku than the rest of the group.

He didn't know of the secret of the ten extreme physiques, but he didn't have much yearning towards the fame from killing Haku, either.

He was indifferent towards fame and profits; he had once been nurtured by Hiruzen Sarutobi as the next clan head, but he willingly gave up this position to Naruto.

His true concerns lay within the interests of the clan, and his heart was intricately linked with the clan's well-being.

"Kiri Village's emergence is completely due to Haku. If we kill Haku, our Konoha Clan will remain the number one clan of Elemental Mountain! Although Haku is a Rank three Gu Master, I have the Wood Charm Gu and the ability to fight with him. Moreover, he just lost his right arm and he will certainly need some time to get used to the absence of a limb. This can be the greatest disadvantage in a life and death battle!" Hashirama thought.

Hashirama's gaze turned resolute.

Yami was observing Hashirama's expression the entire time; he realized what the latter had chosen to do when he saw Hashirama's expression.

"If Hashirama uses the Wood Charm Gu without any regards to the consequences, he will be much stronger than the average Rank three Gu Master and even have the power to surpass levels and fight. However, the one he is facing is Haku who possesses the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique. The battle definitely won't be easy. Since Haku can dilute his primeval essence and suppress his cultivation, he can naturally restore his Rank three cultivation. Right now, he has enough time inside the ice crystal to remove this restriction. Once he breaks out, he will very likely be as a Rank three Gu Master."

Haku was extremely talented and Yami had needed external help to fight against him even when Haku's cultivation was suppressed to Rank two.

Once Haku enters Rank three, his fighting strength would rise by several times. Yami was the main cause of the loss of his right arm. When the battle begins, Haku's ruthless temperament will definitely target Yami.

Moreover, Yami had some concerns and didn't want to reveal his true strength in front of Hashirama.

Thus, Yami immediately expressed his intention to leave and left the battlefield, ignoring the urges of others to stay.

"He really left? Such a coward."

"Hmph, him leaving is good. If he were to meddle, it might instead destroy our tacit teamwork."

"Hahaha, it really frightened me when I saw him chasing after Haku. Now, it seems Yami is indeed Yami: a coward who admitted defeat in the Gu battle competition!"

"Quit it, everyone has their own ambitions. At least, he gave us intel on Haku before he left. Moreover, he will inform the clan who will send reinforcements." As Hashirama gazed at the departing figure of Yami, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Group leader, you are too kind. There is no need to justify for cowards like Yami."

"Right, although Yami is Naruto's older brother, the way I see it, one is earth and the other is heaven."

" I, I have already stopped talking with Yami," Naruto's face grew red, he felt ashamed at Yami's running away before battle.

"Naruto, you leave too," Hashirama suddenly spoke.

"What?!" Naruto's eyes were wide open.

"As the clan's only A grade talent, we can't lose you. Haku may have lost an arm, but the following battle will definitely be very dangerous. For the clan, we can die, but you, Naruto, must not die."

The other four members were all moved.

"Well said!" A bright laughter echoed and an old Gu Master appeared.

"Lord elder." Naruto promptly paid his respects. He recognized this man as a very senior clan elder.

The elder drew near, looking at Hashirama with praise, "Hiruzen Sarutobi raised a great adopted son. With such feelings of fighting to the death for the clan, why would we have to worry about our Konoha Clan not expanding?"

Naruto was still growing up and after the Inari's assassination attempt, the clan had sent an elder to always follow Naruto and protect him.

"Naruto, you don't need to take part in the fight. But don't leave; you can just observe from a distance. Isn't it just a Haku? I've always heard about how outstanding he is and how he has the strength of an elder. Hmph, now it seems he is only just a kid. How much battle experience can he have? Mutilating himself, he is really amateurish!" The elder snorted in disdain.

Hashirama still wanted to persist in his own viewpoint, but it wouldn't be good to refute the elder's decision.

As a junior, he needed to respect the old and take care of the young. How could he so easily refute and question his elder?

The time Haku took to break out of the ice was shorter than anyone had imagined.

With a loud crack, the ice crystal began to fracture, the cracks intensifying until it completely broke from within.

The clan elder, Hashirama, Mito and the others, totaling up to five altogether, had surrounded him. Naruto Uzumaki was standing far away on the mountain slope, staring at the battle from a higher ground while staying vigilant. Once a Kiri Clan Gu Master group appears, he has to send out a warning immediately.

"Haku, you dare to kill the Gu Masters in our clan, breaking the three clan alliance openly. Paying a life for a life is natural law! What else do you have to say?" the clan elder said with a haughty snort.

Haku did not pay him any mind, staying quiet and staring at his right arm instead.

His left arm floundered in vain, grasping nothing as it was reaching for something that wasn't even there in the first place.

He started to frown, his face dim like water as lightning started to nurture between his eyes.

"Actually forcing me to lose off my right arm, this guy is called Yami, right..." Listening to Akatsuchi and Hashirama's words, he had already learned Yami's name.

Muttering, Haku's pair of crystal blue eyes was filled with extremely callous killing intent.

His body emanated the oppressive aura of a Rank three Gu Master. As Yami had predicted earlier, with the capabilities to seal his own cultivation, Haku was also able to release the restrictions on it. It was just that in the battle earlier, he did not have sufficient time to unlock it.

Now, the white silver primeval essence of Rank three filled his aperture fully. The dense primeval essence placed great pressure on his surrounding aperture walls; Haku knew that he was moving towards the path of destruction.

A Gu Master's aperture produced primeval essence, and the primeval essence in turn, nurtures the aperture.

The truth being, as long as the primeval essence exists within the aperture, it acts as a form of nurturing towards the aperture. It is just that this effect is not very evident, far less effective than the Gu Master using the primeval essence to do so.

This was similar to how a still sea water would still have a corrosive effect towards surrounding rocks, but this effect is less evident than the waves hitting on the rocks.

But to the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, after attaining Rank three, even if they do not expend primeval essence, as long as the primeval essence is stored in the aperture, the nurturing effect would be the same as if a Gu Master was actively using the primeval essence to nurture their aperture.

This is the secret behind the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique's ability to raise a Gu Master's cultivation at rocket speed.

Moreover, this nurturing effect would become stronger as the primeval essence is refined. At Rank four, as long as primeval essence exists within the aperture, they would nourish the aperture and the effect would be several times better than a regular Gu Master using primeval essence to nurture their aperture.

With ordinary Gu Masters, the higher their cultivation, the slower the speed of cultivation. However, the ten extreme physiques were the opposite — the higher the cultivation, the stronger their aptitude and the faster their cultivation, until they explode into oblivion.

As an analogy, it is similar to a person in free fall, dependent on the posture and qualities of that person, they would continue to accelerate as they descended, albeit dying a horrible death once they reach the ground.

The ten extreme physiques' cultivation technique is falling from the highest point with the most suited conditions to fall faster than anyone else. As their cultivation gets faster and faster, it only gives them the temporary glory that they attain before they face the threat of death approaching. Like a meteor landing on Earth, moving toward its own destruction; the point where it shines the brightest comes only at the very moment where it burns up completely in the atmosphere.

Earlier, the reason Haku had diluted his white silver primeval essence into red steel primeval essence was for because of this.

Right now, his aperture was completely filled with white silver primeval essence again, and he could feel that every second, his cultivation was steadily rising and improving.

"Actually forcing me to use the white silver primeval essence, and even making me go as far as to sacrifice the Frost Demon Gu! Where is Yami?" Haku's killing intent intensified as he asked. His blue iris swept across the surroundings, but could not find a trace of Yami.

The Frost Demon Gu that he sacrificed was a Rank three Gu worm, one that he only managed to refine after three failures and consuming a large amount of resources. Now that it was gone, it is truly a waste.

Although Haku is Rank three, it only happened recently, and even with the clan's support, he could not hog all the resources to himself. Thus, he only had two Rank three Gu worms. Now that the Frost Demon Gu is gone, he only had the Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu left.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt angered! Since the start of his youth, he had never suffered such a loss!

If Yami was here, he'd have attacked in a frenzy with no one able to stop him.

Haku's disregard caused the Konoha clan elder to feel greatly humiliated.

"Arrogant young lad, eat my moonblade slash!" He shouted, and jumped.

"Hmph!" Haku's left arm swept, and the frost air that gushed out formed into a long ice blade.

The original ice blade he created was only over a meter long, but now it was two meters in length, with an even deadlier edge and greater frost energy.

Ching!

The Clan elder raised both hands shining with moonlight to collide with the ice blade, emitting a metallic noise.

The Clan elder's face was full of shock however as he took a step back, and both his palms clapped together and slashed out.

Golden moon slash!

A curved moonblade, over a meter long with a golden body, emitted a dominating aura as it flew out.

The golden moonlight reflected on Haku's pale face. He laughed as he raised the ice blade in his left hand, attacking head on.

Clank!

Moonblade and ice blade colliding, the golden moon disappeared, and the ice blade broke into small fragments of ice.

"This is a battle between Rank three Gu Masters? Really strong, not only the ice blade, but also that golden moonblade, I cannot block either!" Far away, Naruto watched in fascination, with his lacking knowledge.

"How can this be? A Rank two Ice Blade Gu, managing to block my Rank three Moonhand blade, as well as the golden moon!" Clan elder stared with bulging eyes, disbelief in his tone.

The Northern Dark Ice Soul physique had a strengthening effect towards Ice Gu, a variation of water-type Gu. In addition, this boost grew stronger as the Gu Master's cultivation rose.

Haku, at Rank three in cultivation, can make a Rank two Gu worm display Rank three power. When he is Rank four, if he used a Rank four Gu worm, it would have an effect that can even surpass Rank five.

Firstly, he suppressed his cultivation, thus only the effect of recovering primeval essence remained. Now that his limiter was off and he was back to Rank three, the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique's true ability was starting to show up.

"Hmph, old man, you don't know a lot of things." Haku's feet paused, holding his ice blade horizontally, as he started to rotate.

Huhuhu…...

The intense sound of the wind enveloped him as he became faster and faster.

Howl!

The wind seemed to have transformed into a beast howl, a five meter sword storm forming after a matter of minutes.

The tornado-like winds were white in color, whipping out and causing the people nearby to have numbed senses.

"Quickly dodge!" Even a clan elder, upon seeing this, did not dare to challenge it — he quickly avoided.

But the other Rank two Gu Masters could not manage to dodge in time.

The ice blade storm came at once, with a speed three times or even greater than before.

Ah—!

As soon as the two male Gu Masters were caught up in the storm, their cries came to a stop. In a matter of seconds, they were already minced to a paste by the ice blades and lost their lives on the spot.

"Save me!" Mito screamed in fear, seeing that she was about to be swept into the tornado and perish.

Green Vine Gu!

Hashirama shot out green vines, which quickly coiled around Mito's waist like snakes.

Just as he was about to drag her back, the ice blade storm had already reached her, devouring her in one shot.

Swish swish swish.

The ice blades instantly went to work, cutting this female Gu Master into five or six pieces. The icy air had already frozen her blood before she could bleed.

Soon after, these pieces were further cut into smaller pieces, forming palm-sized frozen corpse fragments.

"Mito!" Seeing this scene, Hashirama grieved with sorrowful eyes.

"Sister Mito..." On the slope, Naruto could not take such an intense scene, kneeling on the ground with a soulless gaze, tears overflowing from his eyes.

"Damn it, Steel Shirt Gu!" The clan elder took a deep breath as his body glowed with black light, looking as he was covered in a steel armor.

He used both arms to cover his face as his legs sprinted, charging towards the icy blue ice blade storm.

Chink chink chink.

He charged inside bravely.

In a few breaths time, the ice blades hacked on his body numerous times, emitting a crisp sound.

A moment later, the storm ended.

Haku and the clan elder faced each other.

"Old thing, you are asking for death." Haku's blue iris were purer, complementing his white hair and white clothes while standing still in the cold winds.

His left hand's ice blade had already broken into two. But this did not stop it from penetrating the elder's heart.

"Huh..." Clan elder lowered his head, staring at his left chest, his mouth emitting a sound of helplessness and shock.

Haku let go of his right hand, abandoning this ice blade. He walked past the clan elder, steadily approaching.

Behind him, the clan elder's face was covered with a light blue frost, and soon he collapsed onto the ground to never get up again.

Far away, Naruto saw this scene and his irises shrunk to the size of pins, intense fear spreading throughout his body.

This was out of his wildest dreams.

A grand Rank three clan elder actually died like this. This Haku is so strong?!

"Where is Yami? Tell me, and I can let you die peacefully." Haku walked towards Hashirama.

"Haku..." Hashirama sighed deeply, staring at Haku without fear, "You and I have fought over ten times, you are getting stronger, and right now I have to admit that you have surpassed me. But your strength cannot cause me to betray my clansman. Come, fight me!"

"Just you? Hehe." Haku snorted in disdain, turning around to look at Naruto, raising a brow. "That is Yami's brother?"

Hashirama's expression changed, taking a big step out and blocking Haku. "Don't think of finding trouble with him!"

Haku's face sank. "You are quite an interesting opponent, keeping you alive can add some colour to my life. But my mood is very bad now, don't take my patience for granted. Tell me nicely, which direction Yami went."

Hashirama replied him in the most direct way with action.

He closed his eyes, and opened them again.

Wood Charm Gu!

Under the power of the Rank three Gu worm, Hashirama's eyes turned into a jade green colour.

At this moment, his aura changed. From a vibrant human, it turned into a deep serene forest feeling.

"Oh?" Haku showed slight shock unknowingly. He pouted in dissatisfaction, "It seems that after a long time, you've gained some interesting new skills."

Icicle Gu.

He willed the Gu, and five sharp icicles appeared out of nowhere.

"Go." Haku's ice hand pointed, and the icicle shot out.

Pow pow pow.

From Hashirama's palms, two vines grew out. The vines danced in the air like two snakes, dancing agilely, easily deflecting the icicles.

The icicle changed directions, only scraping Hashirama's shoulder, and stabbed deeply into the ground, the hard mountain rock, and the forest that stood like a statue.

Hashirama easily broke through the attack, causing Haku's attack to be futile.

Haku laughed coldly, "Your whipping skills got better, but I want to see, how many icicles can you block?"

Saying so, Haku's eyes shone with a mild blue light.

Ten icicles appeared immediately, floating in front of him before shooting towards Hashirama.

After that, ten more were created…...

Like this, over several times, it turned into an icicle rain.

Swoosh…...

The icicle tore through the air, emitting a sound that shocked people's hearts.

Hashirama dodged while manipulating his green vine with both hands, dancing like a shadow.

His whipping technique after countless practices, had gotten to a level where he could command them like his fingers, fully in sync.

But there was too many icicles; Hashirama was bound to miss some, and his shoulder was hit by an icicle.

The icicle penetrated his right shoulder, and the tip appeared from behind him.

Pin Needle Gu.

Hashirama controlled the pain, sweeping his long hair. From the tips of his hair, numerous jade coloured pin needles shot out.

The pin needles engulfed Haku, but he managed to activate the Water Shield Gu in time — it had gotten stronger too, and was much thicker than before, being no weaker than a Rank three Gu worm's defense.

The pin needles entered the water shield and slowed to a halt, before being purged by the water currents.

But this also forced Haku to stop his icicle attack.

Seeing this opportunity, Hashirama ignored the pain and pulled out the icicle from his shoulder by force.

There was no blood dripping out, one was due to the icicle's cold air, and the other was because his body was gradually turning into wood.

Haku kept the Water Shield Gu, his gaze attracted to Hashirama's injury.

From the opening on his torn shirt, he could see Hashirama's injury, revealing the rings of the tree trunk, and his flesh could be seen recovering at an observable speed, and on the newly grown muscles, the tree's ring lines were formed.

At the same time, both his ears started to become longer, and his hair turned jade green, with green leaves growing within. Both his hands, from the fleshy colour of a normal person, turned darker and more reserved. His skin became harder, and turned into the brown tree bark.

This was the first time he had used the Wood Charm Gu without considering the consequences!

The Wood Charm Gu was causing him to turn into a tree spirit, and at the same time, Hashirama could feel the rich natural essence in the air.

These essence could not be felt by ordinary Gu Masters. Only special lifeforms like tree spirits could feel, absorb and use them.

Hashirama felt that he was soaking in his mother's liquid, thick essence enveloping him, giving him a strong sense of fulfillment.

On his body, the Moonwhirl Gu did not change, but the Green Vine Gu, Pin Needle Gu and the vitality grass all showed signs of growth. With Hashirama's identity as a tree spirit, when he uses these wood attribute Gu worms, their power is amplified!

Hashirama breathed deeply, he had never felt so strong before! The rich natural essence gave him an almost infinite source of primeval essence to use. This was the power of the Wood Charm Gu.

But in his heart, a deep sense of fear also rose.

He knew that if he was greedy over this strong and comfortable feeling, and used the Wood Charm Gu without restraint, he would eventually turn into a dead treeman.

Any thing had its price.

Hashirama soon suppressed this fear. He stared at Haku and said two words —"Let's fight."

Thus, the intense battle started.

Green vine vs Ice blade, Icicle vs Pin needles!

One was the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, with insane primeval essence recovery rate, and the other was the wood charm tree spirit, using all the natural essence as his own.

This battle, had far surpassed the realm of ordinary Rank three Gu Masters.

Naruto stood on the slope, watching dumbstruck. He had never seen such an all-out intense fight!

Normally speaking, Gu Masters have limited primeval essence, and they always have to keep 10% of it as reserves. Carefully using them, like thin ice.

But now, be it Hashirama or Haku, both were using it without constraints as if they had an unlimited supply of primeval essence.

The entire path was wrecked by their battle. Huge trees fell and were destroyed, mountain rocks smashed to bits.

After a long time…...

Blue bird ice coffin Gu!

Haku grabbed an opportunity and opened his mouth, and from within, an ice blue bird flew out.

The flying bird chirped, its body like a pigeon, but under the boost of the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, it gradually turned into the size of an eagle while flying, and after circling for a while, flew towards Hashirama.

Hashirama could not dodge in time, so he faced it head on.

Bam.

A sound explosion later, Hashirama was frozen in an ice crystal as large as a room.

"It's over..." Haku sighed as he had not fully enjoyed himself.

He saw the immobile Hashirama within the ice crystal, and muttered, "Thanks for providing me such an interesting experience, this battle is the most exciting one I've had thus far. Hashirama, your death has meaning, I will remember it clearly."

"Lord Hashirama!" On the slope, Naruto shouted loudly.

"Why are you shouting, you mere ant, the next one will be you." Haku snorted, walking towards Naruto.

At this point, the sound of the ice crystal breaking entered his ears.

"How can this be?" He turned around and saw that within the ice crystal, Hashirama had undergone a massive transformation.

His body became bigger, and his Rank two Gu Master outfit was almost ripped.

His hair turned into green vines, and palm-sized leaves grew on it endlessly, turning into a thick greenery.

His fingers had turned into sturdy wood, his limbs turning into thick tree branches, only having a rough form for his arms and legs.

With a sound, the ice crystal broke completely.

Hashirama stood up; he had already changed in appearance completely, the original delicate and handsome human face turned into a sharp-nosed, huge eye tree spirit face.

He was three meters tall with a strong body, wearing tree barks as his armor, and on them were large amounts of leaves and vines.

Haku stared at his transformation in shock; compared to this Hashirama, he was like a child beside an adult.

"This appearance, did you refine the Wood Charm Gu? This Gu is way harder to refine than my Frost Demon Gu!" Haku found the answer.

"Tree spirit wood charm can use the essence in the air, no wonder Hashirama had such ample primeval essence." He realized at once, but got more confused.

He asked the question in his heart, "Hashirama, using the Wood Charm Gu like this, aren't you afraid of turning into a dead treeman? So what if you win me? You're destined to die!"

"Haku..." Hashirama's voice became low, "I understand you like I understand myself. You and I are both orphans, adopted by the clan leader. Yet we walk on such different paths. A tree dying in a forest is nothing, for as long as the forest exists, numerous trees will continue to grow and rise up. Let's have our final battle, my nemesis!"

Saying so, hundreds of green vines assaulted Haku like giant pythons.

"For the clan? What a fool!" Haku retreated in a rush.

But the green vines' speed was faster than before by several times, quickly chasing up to Haku.

Haku controlled his body and dodged nimbly. Green vines thick as an arm swept near his body, hitting the soil or the mountain rocks, causing the soil to fly and the rock fragments to scatter.

Water Shield Gu!

Haku could not dodge in time, and created his shield.

Hashirama had seen through the weakness of this Gu worm. He did not attack forcefully, but manipulated the vines to wrap around the shield.

Next, he pulled back his strength, and the water shield came into contact. The surface water current moved quickly as it hit the green vines, causing water to splash everywhere.

The water shield could not endure the strength of the green vines' restriction, and shrunk in size, on the verge of collapsing.

"Not good! If the water shield breaks and I get entangled in the green vines, I will get killed by Hashirama!" Haku in the water shield was sure of his situation.

In the next moment, the water shield exploded.

Bam!

An ice blade storm exploded from within, becoming larger and larger.

Haku purposely withdrew the Water Shield Gu's defense — since defending couldn't work, he had to fight offense with offense!

At once, the temperature fell and cold air emanated.

The white ice blade storm flew towards Hashirama. The vines could not stop this tornado, and were cut into numerous segments by the ice blades.

"Nice timing." Hashirama had no fear, his large body bravely entering the ice blade storm.

With a bam, he knocked onto the white colour tornado.

He opened both hands, wrapping around it.

Crack crack…...

The sharp ice blades cut through his body, and numerous leaves and tree bark were sent flying.

The delayed sense of pain assaulted him as Hashirama growled in pain, but did not let go, using all his strength to grip the tornado.

The ice blade storm was actually shrinking under his strength.

"Damn it! This maniac that doesn't care for his life..." Haku scolded internally. In this situation there was no other way, he could only create more ice blades and rotate faster, competing with Hashirama.

The ice blades slashed on Hashirama's body and gradually became blunt, but under the Ice Blade Gu's power, they sharpened once again.

The battle was at a stalemate, out of their control, and no one could hold back and stop.

Either Hashirama kills Haku, or Haku kills Hashirama. Pitting offense with offense, the battle was filled with bravery and intensity.

Naruto stood far away, not even daring to take a deep breath as he watched.

The battle had reached the climax, the winner and loser will be decided in this showdown.

"Lord Hashirama, hang in there!" Naruto was so nervous his body was shaking, he knew that going over would only cause trouble, thus he could only cheer for Hashirama loudly.

As if he heard Naruto's voice, the ice blade storm got smaller, forcefully suppressed by Hashirama.

"Damn it, I can actually get into a situation where my primeval essence is insufficient..." Haku gritted his teeth, rotating slower as his primeval essence recovery could not keep up with his expenditure, getting into a helpless situation.

The Northern Dark Ice Soul physique's primeval essence recovery is very fast, but the recovery speed at Rank three is still slightly inferior to the tree spirit's ability to extract natural essence. If Haku could cultivate to Rank four, his recovery speed would greatly surpass the Wood Charm Gu.

Except, in life and death battles, there is no "if".

Whether its win or lose, the results have to be accepted.

Eventually the ice blade storm stopped, but Hashirama also paid a heavy price.

His arms were large like a horse carriage, and at the moment on his left arm he had two fingers left and three on his right. Both his palms were sliced off by half due to the ice blades.

But when his palms gradually gathered together towards the middle, new tree branches grew again rapidly from his palm, interweaving together.

The two palms formed a wooden cage, trapping Haku within.

"Damn it!" Haku gritted his teeth. His primeval essence was running dry, he could only be at Hashirama's mercy.

"We won!" Far away, Naruto jumped at this sight.

"Am I going to die...?" Haku shouted in his heart, his eyes widening as he saw the two palms approaching. When both palms clasp together, he would be smashed into a bloody meat pie.

But the palm's speed became slower, and slowly stood in mid-air.

Haku was stunned momentarily, before realizing that Hashirama's body had developed problems, instantly being overjoyed.

"Damn, I was so close..." At this moment, Hashirama's heart was filled with helplessness. His hands had lost all senses, completely turning into wood.

At the same time, he gradually lost the connection to his intestines and lungs. The Wood Charm Gu's ability had corroded his entire body, bringing him to the brink of death.

"No, it cannot end like this! I can still use the Green Vine Gu!" Hashirama forced himself to focus and activated the Green Vine Gu.

Numerous thick vines appeared and attacked Haku through the openings of the cage.

Haku dodged quickly but he had undergone several battles, and his stamina was greatly depleted. Furthermore, there was little space in the cage, and he could not move much, thus eventually a vine entangled onto his right leg and tripped him.

"It's over." Hashirama sighed in relief, as he quickly moved tens of green vines to follow up.

At his moment of life and death, Haku's aperture finally recovered enough primeval essence for his usage requirement.

He used all the primeval essence without further thoughts, sending it all into the Ice Blade Gu, and formed a new ice blade.

The ice blade was sharp and cut off the green vine on his right leg. Haku rolled in a sorry state, managing to avoid tens of vines.

The green vines hit the ground and penetrated the thick earth. The soil flew around, and the green vines attacked once again.

Haku breathed heavily as he used the ice blade to defend desperately.

The green vines attacked from all directions, as if he was walking on thin ice. A single mistake by Haku would cause him to be instantly killed by the vines.

But he was after all a top tier genius. With the stimulation of death, he squeezed out all the potential in him, and his evasive actions became quick and clear.

Although he was tripped sometimes by the green vines, he managed to avoid the danger and eventually kept his life.

The green vines were cut by the ice blades, and their amount became less and less.

It was not that Hashirama did not want to activate the Green Vine Gu and produce more vines, but it was because the surrounding natural essence had been almost fully absorbed by him.

Although outside, there was still essence in the air gathering, the diluted essence in the air was no longer able to fulfill the Green Vine Gu's needs.

There was an even worse piece of news — the Wood Charm Gu's strength had completely corroded Hashirama's body, and was starting to take over his consciousness.

Hashirama's consciousness started to become dazed, and he had intermediate blank outs.

The aura of death was blowing on his face.

"Is it going to end? No..." He was indignant, forcing his mind to focus and put in the last ditch effort in killing Haku.

He could no longer see anything, for the Wood Charm Gu had taken over his eyes, and he could not hear any longer either, his ears merely an accessory now.

He only had a meagre sense of touch.

Relying on Haku's retaliation, he judged the distance and position, and attacked.

His efforts were rewarded, as Haku was finally captured. A vine wrapped around his neck and raised him up, gradually tightening.

Haku could feel difficulty in breathing, it was no use even if he opened his mouth. Along with Hashirama, they was progressing towards death.

Yami breathed roughly, an intense battle had ended.

On the floor laid five corpses with opened eyes, they were all Kiri Clan Gu Masters.

Relying on the Stealth Scales Gu to sneak attack, with the advantage of the Moonglow Gu and the strength of two boars along with his 500 years of experience, he displayed shocking abilities.

Although he told Hashirama he was going to return to the village, it was just an excuse.

After leaving for a distance, he used the Stealth Scales Gu to hide himself, moving around the battlefield and going to the area where Choza and Akatsuchi died.

He collected the Gu worms in Choza and his groupmates' corpses, and when he got the Akatsuchi's corpse, he found that the corpse was missing, not to mention their Gu worms.

"It seems that Hotsuchi collected their corpses. What a waste, I wanted to get Akatsuchi's Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu." Yami sighed.

Leaving Hotsuchi alive was not what he wanted.

But back then, after he had killed Kitsuchi, Hotsuchi was already vigilant, thus killing the latter would expend much effort.

At that time, Haku was close by. If Yami and Hotsuchi fought, Haku would be overjoyed.

"But the Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu might not be on Akatsuchi's body. He already has the strength of a bear, he might have given the Gu back to his clan already."

Yami focused his gaze and escaped the mountain path battlefield.

Hashirama and the others fighting against Haku would cause a huge commotion, and it will be detected by the surrounding wolf packs and Gu Masters.

Although Yami was not optimistic about Hashirama's group, he had seen firsthand the power of the Wood Charm Gu in his previous life. Against Haku, there would at least be an intense struggle.

He was unwilling to give up such a chance, thus he chose to wait at the surroundings.

At times, Gu Masters were attracted by the sounds of the intense battle, so Yami lured some wolf packs over and restrained them.

Those that he cannot stop, Yami would strike with his own hands.

"The mountain path battlefield's noise has come to a halt, it seems they are deciding the victor already." His right ear had roots growing out, digging into the mountain walls, allowing Yami to hear some things from the battlefield.

Honestly speaking, Hashirama's performance was better than expected. After Haku lost his right arm, the effect on his battle strength was much greater than Yami had expected.

But soon, Yami's expression changed.

He heard large amounts of footsteps from two directions, heading towards the battlefield.

One direction was from Konoha Village, while the other direction was from the Kiri Village.

Each group had at least twenty people. It was not something a bold lightning wolf pack could block, and Yami could not lure two groups of wolf over anyway.

"It seems the news about this battle has been found out by someone, so these are the reinforcements sent by the two clans, I have to enter the mountain path immediately."

Yami's distance was shorter, thus being the first to enter the mountain path.

The battlefield's scenario was not out of his expectations.

From the cage's opening, he could see Haku hanging by the vines on his last breath, but was still barely alive.

"The ice muscles' defense are stubbornly sustaining Haku's life. Hmph, unfortunately, you have encountered me." Yami's killing intent surged as he took a few steps forwards, sprinting towards Haku.

Swish swish swish.

Suddenly, a flurry of pin needles surrounded Yami like rain droplets.

It was Hashirama's Pin Needle Gu, attacking Yami.

"What is going on?" Yami retreated immediately, avoiding the pin needle rain.

He focused the gaze at the large tree, realizing at once, "It seems that Hashirama's consciousness had been blurred to the point where he can no longer differentiate between friend or foe. He's merely relying on his will and attempting to kill Haku. Anyone that intrudes the battlefield would be regarded as an interferer by him."

At this moment, Kiri Clan Gu Masters appeared from the mountain path.

Seeing such an intense battlefield, their faces showed a shocked expression.

"The lad over there, don't make any unnecessary movements!" A Rank three Gu Master shouted towards Yami, his tone full of warning and threat.

"This Haku is such a cockroach." Yami seeing this scene, laughed coldly in his heart, knowing that he could not have the last strike.

Firstly, Hashirama's consciousness was blurred, a green vine was insufficient to kill Haku who had the ice muscles.

For Yami to get close to Haku, he had to break through Hashirama's trap, but this way, it would divert much of his attention and might even help Haku in escaping his predicament.

Even if they broke through by force, Kiri Clan's Rank three Gu Masters and Rank two elites were not for show, they would definitely stop him.

Furthermore, fighting against Haku had danger as well.

Haku's aperture had recovered primeval essence sufficiently to at least use the Blue bird ice coffin Gu.

Even if Yami managed to kill Haku, these Kiri Clan elites would not let go of him, they would definitely kill Yami.

Yami sighed in his heart, "The distance is too long, there are at least twenty steps to get to him, and my Moonglow Gu's attack range is only ten steps, furthermore… to kill this Haku who is destined to die anyway, I would need to put my life at such risk, greatly interfering with my rebirth plans, it is not worth it."

Thinking so, Yami took a few steps back.

This was evidently a weak and cowardly movement, causing the Kiri Clan Gu Masters to breath a sigh of relief.

Soon after, Naruto rushed over as well.

"Lord Hashirama!" He had an exhilarated expression, stupidly running towards Hashirama, but soon was forced to retreat by the pin needles.

"Group leader, it's me Naruto!" He shouted in shock, sensing something amiss for the first time.

But how could Hashirama answer him.

"Big brother, what's wrong with Lord Hashirama?" Naruto, under confusion and shock, could only turn to Yami.

But Yami ignored him, squatting down and grabbing with his right hand, making a claw shape towards Haku.

Plunder Gu!

He secretly activated this Gu, quickly sensing that he had grabbed something.

He quickly pulled back, and a Gu worm flew out of Haku's body.

It was a red steel Relic Gu!

This was given to Haku by the Kiri Clan leader, but Haku never used it as he quickly reached Rank three cultivation.

Now, it became Yami's loot.

Seeing the red steel Relic Gu coming out of Haku's body and flying away, landing in Yami's palm, the Kiri Clan Gu Masters were anxious until their eyes turned red, starting to scream.

"Scumbag, if you don't want to die, stop right now!"

"Stealing our Kiri Clan Gu worm right in front of us!"

"It's a red steel Relic Gu worm..."

Yami laughed coldly. Once the red steel Relic Gu was obtained, he used the Spring Autumn Cicada to instantly refine it but did not keep it in his aperture, putting it in his clothes instead, giving the impression that he had not refined them yet.

He grabbed once again; this time a grey coloured beetle flew out.

"Stone Aperture Gu..." Yami recognised this Gu immediately. As his eyes shone, he refined it once again and kept it in his arms.

"Damn it, yet another Gu worm!"

"Stop him, stop him, he dares to do so openly, he does not hold any regard for our Kiri Clan."

"Save Haku, kill these guys!"

The Kiri Clan Gu Masters growled, running furiously from the mountain path.

Haku had the full support of his clan, so every Gu worm in his possession was outstanding. Now that they were snatched away by Yami in public, they all could feel their hearts bleeding.

This felt worse than killing them.

Seeing these people approaching with their imposing aura, Naruto took a step back in fright, but Yami was unfazed.

In the current scene, he and Naruto were at the east side of the mountain path while the Kiri Clan Gu Masters were at the west, and in the middle of the two sides were Hashirama and Haku.

Whoosh whoosh!

Pin needles rained like cats and dogs.

"Damn it..." Kiri Clan Gu Masters started scolding, as they were blocked by Hashirama.

"Hashirama is going to die anytime, the remaining time only allows me to use the Plunder Gu once, what would it be this time?" Yami calmed down, using the Plunder Gu again.

Every time the Plunder Gu was used, it expended a large amount of primeval essence. It depended on how strong the target Gu worm was. The harder the process, the more primeval essence is expended. If the plunder fails, the Gu Master would even face a backlash.

Thus, the Plunder Gu was a rather unreliable Gu, with little usage.

But at this moment, Haku was almost dead, his consciousness was hazy and he was almost at his limits. Plundering his Gu worm was not hard at all.

Among the Gu worms in Haku's possession, the most valuable is the Frost Demon Gu. This Gu was on par with the Wood Charm Gu, allowing a person to transform into the frost demon. But if used for extended periods, it would cause the Gu Master's life force to dwindle, turning into an ice statue.

Haku knew this weakness, thus he had never been like Hashirama, using the Gu to such an extent.

Other than the Frost Demon Gu, the second most valuable is the Blue bird ice coffin Gu, a Rank three Gu. Right now, it resides in Haku's throat.

If he can plunder the Blue bird ice coffin Gu, it is the best scenario. But the Plunder Gu is only a Rank two Gu, even if the Gu Master wills it, it does not have to ability to do so.

Eventually, Yami caught Haku's Water Shield Gu.

This was not bad at all. The Water Shield Gu together with the White Jade Gu could provide Yami greater defensive power.

The tree spirit that Hashirama turned into was eventually felled by the Kiri Clan Gu Masters.

They split open the wooden cage and saved the Haku who had fainted after losing his right arm.

Just as they were about to slaughter Yami and Naruto, the Konoha clan reinforcements arrived.

The two were at a stalemate for a while, before both retreated in mutual understanding.

Hashirama's death and Haku's injury, with the threat of the wolf tide, such a loss is already horrifying. If a large-scale fighting broke out, for each clan their pressure for survival would intensify greatly.

Regardless of which world, people always compete for their own benefits.

And the greatest benefit in the world, is undoubtedly "survival".

Eventually, Hashirama's corpse and Gu worms, were brought back by the Konoha clan's Gu Masters.

The two sides held caution as they retreated from the battlefield.


	29. Bullcrap Human Relationships!

**Bullcrap Human Relationships!**

The sky was raining, and the entire area was gloomy.

A group of people stood at a slope behind the village, this was the graveyard.

Every now and then, there would be a few more gravestones erected here.

In this world, it was tough for people to survive, and whether it is due to external threat or internal cause, there would always be a few sacrifices.

The clan elder's voice was low as it entered everyone's ears, making them feel even more down.

"We have the same surname, we come from the same clan, the same blood flows in our bodies."

"We are so close together in distance, yet we are forever separated by life and death."

"This pain aches in my heart."

"Wait for me."

"Someday in the future, I will lay beside you as well."

"Let us turn into ash and soil, as we support our future generations..."

On a newly erected gravestone, a group of people hung their heads low. Some were crying softly, and some were staring at the name on the tombstone as they were filled with sadness.

The cruelty of death was like a white bony arm, slashing a bloody injury on everyone's heart.

Except that some were already numb from the pain, while others were still too inexperienced.

Naruto Uzumaki was among these people, his drooping eyes staring at the tombstone with "Hashirama", these four words.

Dead?

In his eyes, there was endless uncertainty.

Yesterday's battle, the entire process and situation was still imprinted deep in his heart.

His experience was limited, he did not understand Hashirama's moving and tragic bravery as well as his sacrifice.

But now that the truth was in front of him, he could not accept it suddenly.

"Dead? That kind Lord Hashirama that always smiles, advises, shows concern and takes care of me... Is actually dead?"

"Why did this happen?"

"Why is it that in this world, good people die easily, while bad people live long?"

"Is this a dream, am I having a dream right now?"

Naruto clenched his fists, and the realistic feeling of touch caused him to feel ever more upset.

The discussions of the surrounding Gu Masters entered his ears.

"Sigh, I can't believe that this time, even Lord Hashirama sacrificed himself."

"Humans will eventually die, but it is too much of a pity, I heard that Haku still had a breath of vitality left, he was eventually saved."

"May he rest well underground, and bless us with the hopes of surviving this wolf tide..."

The crowds slowly dispersed, until Naruto was the last one left.

The young man's lonely shadow, facing the graveyard full of tombstones alone.

"Lord Hashirama!" He suddenly kneeled on the ground, his tears falling on the ground.

He was lost, he was regretful, he was in pain!

Drip. Drip drop, drip drop...

Bean-sized raindrops fell from the dark clouds, hitting on the ground, causing the leaves and tree branches to bend.

The smell of the earth rushed into Naruto's nostrils, and he wept in painful grief. The sound of his crying and the raindrops mixed together; his ten fingers grabbed the soil, trying to retrieve Hashirama's life, but eventually he only had two handfuls of soil.

It started raining, and Haku lay upon a soft bed, staring at this rain blankly.

His right arm which was broken was already taken care off, wrapped with a white bandage. His eyes also returned to black, but his cultivation was Rank three, he had no longer suppressed it to Rank two.

When he woke up from his slumber, he suddenly lost all spirits, feeling extremely empty.

He laid on his bed peacefully, his eyes opened for over ten hours. He let the Rank three white silver primeval essence nurture his aperture; he couldn't bother to care about it.

This rain triggered the deepest memories in his heart.

It was under such a summer rain that he was officially adopted by the Kiri Clan leader. The clan leader's benevolent and hopeful gaze fell on him, as the surrounding clan elders gave their words of congratulations, gushing in like tidal waves.

The young him stood on the icy ground barefooted, and he stared at the rain outside the window, but all he felt was being lost and lonely.

"What is the meaning of living?" This question troubled him for twenty over years, and could continue to trouble him, until the problem of his self-explosion surfaced again.

"Is it for kinship, for the clan..." Haku unavoidably thought of Hashirama.

From young to adulthood, he had seen such a sacrifice many times — sometimes it is a Bai clansman, sometimes they were from Konoha clan or Iwa Clan.

He could not understand these fanatics, he was born as a cold and emotionless person.

Hashirama could not give him answers, thus Haku thought of Yami.

The first time he saw Yami, Yami was sitting by a tree, eating a wild fruit he picked, emotionlessly starting at the battle below.

He was excited until his body shuddered, shivering with excitement. The reason was that he saw himself from Yami's similar eerie abyss-like iris.

But now that he thought about it, Yami's gaze had something more than him.

That thing, is the answer to his questions.

The rain got heavier and thunder rumbled while lightning flashed in the sky.

"What is the meaning behind living?" In the dark room, Naruto Uzumaki asked the same question.

Konoha clan leader, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. He stared pitifully at the young man who had lost his soul, and then looked outside the window, at the rain.

Naruto's doubt was understandable; an unavoidable death always urges people to think behind the true value of existence.

"You know something? More than ten years ago, there was another young man with a similar situation as you, and asked me the same question." Long after, Hiruzen Sarutobi started to speak.

"That person, is your clan leader's... my adopted son — Hashirama."

Naruto was momentarily stunned, raising his head. A pair of swollen red eyes, showing an intense urge for answers.

"I said to him, a person has a thousand and one reasons to live. Why are you alive, I cannot answer that, only you have the answer. Go find it yourself," Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

"Then clan leader, what is your answer for yourself?" Naruto blinked in confusion, asking.

Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed. In his eyes, Naruto and Hashirama's images were overlapping, Hashirama had asked the same question in the past.

Clan leader thought for a moment, recalling the past, then repeating the same answer he gave back then, "An organisation is bound to have sacrifices. From the moment a person is born, death is imminent. Between life and death, humans are fragile, but one thing can warm the heart, and shine upon our souls. That is love — this is my answer."

Sacrifice is common.

Hashirama is he, Hiruzen Sarutobi's adopted son, and after raising him for so many years, his current sacrifice brought great pain to this foster father.

But as clan leader, he had seen far too many sacrifices.

When one has the resolution of life and death, pain and grief becomes more acceptable.

Naruto lowered his head, keeping silent; it seems he was thinking.

Clan leader laughed, taking a letter from the drawer in his desk. He handed it to Naruto.

"This is Hashirama's letter. It records the answers to questions he's been thinking about for years, I am handing it to you now, you can take a look. This is his answer."

Undoubtedly, Naruto's current heart had intense attraction to this letter.

He opened it on the spot, and after seeing the first line, his tears could not help but flow out.

It was Hashirama's familiar handwriting, in his words there was his unique amicable aura.

The starting paragraph recorded his perplexity and pain.

Next was the situations that had given him some ideas through continuously thinking about them these past years.

Naruto looked at the letter, and felt like he had experienced Hashirama's entire life. He followed Hashirama's footsteps, until he finished the entire letter.

At the end, this was recorded.

"The clan is like a forest, and we members are like the trees in the forest. The old trees extend their branches and shelter the young from rain and wind. When the young trees grow into large and tall trees, the old trees will turn into the nutrients in the soil, fertilizing the land and nurturing new trees. People will always die, and heaven and earth will not remember us. But new trees are the proof that the old trees have existed. Under this continuous testament, the clan forest becomes larger and spreads further, walking towards the path of prosperity and flourishment."

"People are bound to die. As Gu Masters, we cannot hide from impending death. Even Rank seven and eight Gu Masters can merely live a little longer. Towards death, I feel fear as well. But I understand deeply, eventually, one day I Hashirama will die too. I might die of old age, illness, or the battlefield. But at that moment, I can leave peacefully with no regrets."

At the end of the letter.

"Lord foster father, the question I asked you before, I think I have found the answer."

After seeing the letter, Naruto wept soundlessly.

In his mind, it was filled with memories of Hashirama. When he committed a mistake, Hashirama did not blame but instead comforted him. When facing trouble, the gaze of encouragement was given, and when in a loss, the hands of Hashirama would warmly touch Naruto's head.

Hiruzen Sarutobi kept the letter and said, "In future, when you think of the answer, you can also write a letter and tell me. Go, return and have a rest. The danger of the wolf tide is not over, we need you to contribute your strength as well."

"No." Naruto slowly raised his head, clenching his fists.

"What?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

"I've found my answer." Naruto's tone was filled with indescribable determination as he continued, "I want strength! To protect my family, and protect them from any harm. I want to protect the clan, and strengthen the clan! I want the wolf tide to no longer be able to torture us, I want to see the happiness of joy of my companions! This pain, I do not want it to repeat. I want to use my pair of hands, my body, my soul, to protect those around me!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi showed an expression of surprise, and at this moment, he felt that he saw Hashirama.

"Hashirama, you did not die in vain..." Seeing Naruto's shining eyes, clan leader sighed emotionally in his heart.

An old tree has fallen, and just as it gradually decays away in the soil, a new sprout is already starting to grow rapidly.

...

Genten was unable to endure the heart of loneliness, thus he dug out both eyes, turning them into a son and daughter. This alleviated his sense of loneliness.

But good things do not last, for his children started to crave the scenery of the outside world, forgetting all about their father Genten and always going out to play until they forgot the time, and even forgot to take care of Genten.

Genten could not see anything, it was total darkness.

But at time, he could see a little bit of light.

To this, he felt perturbed, and asked the Attitude Gu.

Attitude Gu told this to him, "Oh, this is the eternal light given out by the Faith Gu."

"Faith?" Haku seeing this, laughed and threw the book that recorded the ancient legends out.

The door was opened at this moment, and the person entering was almost hit in the face by the book.

"Haku, what are you doing?" The one entering was the Kiri Clan leader.

He frowned, consoling, "I know your mood is bad, but losing your right arm is nothing. In this world, there are many Gu worms that can heal such an injury."

"In the past, I got the clan elders to stay by your side and protect you, but you always rejected it, and even attacked the clan elders. You've finally suffered a loss this time huh?"

"But this is a good thing. Since young you've had too smooth of a path, but as long as it is not death, such a loss is no big deal. Your injuries are already healed, but the wolf tide is getting more ferocious, the clan needs your strength!"

"A bunch of wolf cubs, what can they amount to?" Haku shut his eyes, lying on the bed and answering nonchalantly.

Clan leader's face showed a serious expression, "The situation is not looking good, or rather, it is pessimistic. According to our reconnaissance, there are already three frenzy lightning wolf packs moving near the village. Your failure brought a great influence to our clansmen. I hope that tonight, you can come out and show yourself. As long as you are standing, it can greatly motivate our clansmen. Do you understand?"

"I get it, I get it. It's a small matter." Haku responded, showing impatience.

If it was any other person acting like this to the clan leader, they would have gotten heavily punished, but Haku was different.

Kiri Clan leader sighed helplessly, closing the door and leaving.

When the room had only Haku left, he opened his eyes, showing a gaze full of loneliness and perplexity.

He did not tell the others about the problem with his body, and the premonition of death that he was feeling.

From the clan's ancient records, he found out the name of the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique. In that limited information, the ten extreme physiques were also known as the absolute death talents, for when the aperture walls reach their limits, the self-destructive power would be extremely great.

It is true that the Kiri Clan leader had raised Haku for many years, being so lenient to him. However, if the matter of the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique was exposed, Haku had no doubt that the first person to kill him would be this Kiri Clan leader.

"What's the point of a person being alive?"

In the past, when he considered this question, Haku would feel lost, feeling emotions like boredom, frustration and anger... all these negative emotions.

But now, his heart felt a sense of peacefulness.

People would grow up, not to mention a genius like him.

In the past, he knew that he was going to die, thus in his despair he longed to live, and he felt a sense of fear towards death deep in his heart.

But now, after he had almost died, he had gotten over it.

Allowing the Rank three white silver primeval essence to nurture his aperture, he was no longer worried.

After all, he was no longer afraid of death.

Even though he was still lost about the meaning of living, he knew where the answer was.

This answer, was already in Yami's heart.

This feeling was indescribable; it was like an instinct, but he was clear of it.

Moreover, the Stone Aperture Gu was in Yami's hands.

"Yami... we will meet again," he lightly muttered, his eyes shining with a brilliant light, like the glimmer of a diamond.

"Stone Aperture Gu..." In the rented house, Yami held the Gu worm in his hands, falling into deep thought.

Stone Aperture Gu was like a dice, cubic and had a grey white body, extremely sturdy.

This Gu was an expenditure type Gu, gone after one use. Its use was to turn a Gu Master's aperture wall into a sturdy rock wall.

This act completely squeezes the aperture's potential and growth dry, allowing the Gu Master to reach peak stage cultivation.

For example, Yami was now a Rank two middle stage, so after using the Gu, he can instantly become Rank two peak stage.

But the price is, Yami would no longer have the possibility to advance to Rank three. At the same time, he would lose the ability to regenerate primeval essence, thus he would only be able to use primeval stones to replenish them.

The Stone Aperture Gu was for some Gu Masters who were at their wits end. For some Gu Master's aperture that suffered an unrecoverable injury, developing cracks and can't be healed, they would have to use this Gu.

Or in special situations, the Gu Master has no hopes of advancing and need to raise their cultivation quickly to live. Thus they will use this Gu.

"The cost of refining this Stone Aperture Gu is very high. Seeing that Haku refined this Gu worm, he probably wants to convert his aperture into a stone aperture to prevent the imminent death. Unfortunately this method can only delay his death, but cannot stop his destruction. If the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique is so easily broken, how can it be called a ten extreme physique?"

This Stone Aperture Gu was useless to Yami, but the red steel Relic Gu he got from Haku's body as well as the Water Shield Gu were very useful.

As for the Gu worms Yami extracted from Choza and the other's bodies, they were not outstanding, and once he returned to the clan he had them exchanged for large amounts of merit points.

Because of the wolf tide, the issue of Hashirama and Haku's battle was suppressed by all three clans, controlling their urges. The three clans needed each other's power to survive this ordeal first.

Hotsuchi's report, exposed the fact that Yami possessed the White Jade Gu. But he used the reason of buying it from the caravan to get through for the time being.

As a person involved, Yami had to go through the clan's investigation.

It was not an in-depth investigation; the ever growing severity of the wolf tide had attracted almost all the attention of the clan's higher-ups. Yami's Earth Communication Ear Grass and Stealth Scales Gu were still concealed but even if they were exposed, Yami could just attribute it to the caravan.

In any case, communications had already been severed due to the wolf tide; the caravan won't be coming. Under such circumstances, the clan couldn't obtain the confirmation from the caravan and could only delay the investigation.

When the results of any investigation truly came out, Yami would have already become a Rank three and left Elemental Mountain.

Of course, if the Four Flavors Liquor worm and Spring Autumn Cicada were exposed, it would be a completely different matter.

Either of them could cause a huge commotion in the village if exposed.

Four Flavors Liquor worm represented a whole new fusion recipe and had extremely significant meaning. Yami wouldn't be able to explain it even if he pushed it onto the caravan, and would be thoroughly investigated by the clan.

And Spring Autumn Cicada? If it was discovered, the wolf tide would be greatly sidelined. This is a Rank six Gu after all! Even the clan head Hiruzen Sarutobi would immediately dispense with the civilities; the nonsense of kinship and the clan head position could all be given up. There was no doubt that it would be forcibly seized.

July was month of a scorching hot summer, and the hot air was filled with the iron smell of blood.

The wolf tide was growing more serious and fights were becoming more intense.

Many had begun to realize that the wolf tide this time was of a rarely seen enormous scale among all of past history.

Bold lightning wolf packs had fallen to a supporting role now; thousand beast king frenzy lightning wolf packs had started to roam nearby the village.

Mankind's living space had shrunk down to an extreme level.

Even Konoha clan headquarters were as such; there was no need to mention the village at the foot of the mountain.

Nine out of ten houses were empty and a portion of fortunate villagers were living in the clan by utilizing all kinds of connections. But the majority of the villagers could only leave their homes and make an arduous journey to evade the wolf tide.

Their destination was another mountain village. But the fierce beasts, wild Gu and the lightning wolves that filled the whole mountain reduced their hopes to an almost negligible amount.

This was a hopeless journey.

Konoha clan could only give up on these mortals, they would all die before they even reached halfway to their destination. Either because of the fierce beasts or due to attacks from insects.

No matter if it was mortals or Gu Masters, they were all struggling between life and death. Even the elders who usually had a high position, had no choice but to don their armors and go to the battlefield.

The Gu Masters that had retired were enlisted again. When the wolf tide ends, those that manage to live on would definitely not surpass even one tenth.

The cruelty of nature was displayed in all its glory at this moment. It was the survival of the fittest and in no way could it be avoided by speaking words of warmth.

Yami sat cross-legged on the bed; his eyes were closed as he looked at his aperture.

In his aperture, 44% of red steel sea waves were surging up and down. These primeval essence were all dark red. It was the Rank two peak stage dark red primeval essence.

Rank two primeval essence were collectively called red steel primeval essence. But it had four different small realms: initial stage, middle stage, upper stage and peak stage. There were also slight differences in the red steel primeval essence.

Rank two initial stage primeval essence was light red; middle stage primeval essence was scarlet; upper stage was crimson and peak stage was dark red.

Many days ago, Yami had advanced to upper stage. His crimson primeval essence went through Four Flavors Liquor worm's refinement and along with the replenishment from primeval stones, it had completely changed to the current dark red primeval essence.

Right now, the aperture wall was no longer a watery membrane with the flowing light, but it was instead a thick stone membrane formed by layers upon layers of piled up white light.

White Jade Gu and Stealth Scales gu were in the depths of the red steel sea.

Four Flavors Liquor worm was playing around in the sea but when the Spring Autumn Cicada slowly showed up, it immediately sunk towards the depths of the sea.

Under the aura of the Spring Autumn Cicada, the surface of the whole primeval sea became as calm and smooth as a mirror without the slightest wave.

Spring Autumn Cicada's condition was getting better.

Its two wings were completely recovered, appearing like a pair of tender leaves. Only its main body was still withered.

Yami would check on Spring Autumn Cicada every so often; he could clearly sense the recovery speed of Spring Autumn Cicada increasing rapidly.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was like a dying patient before, one who couldn't even open their mouths to eat and could only take in liquid food to preserve their life force.

Now, this patient could get off the bed and eat much more food to nourish itself; the recovery speed would naturally become faster.

Besides the Spring Autumn Cicada, there were two new members in Yami's aperture.

They were both taken from Haku; one was Water Shield Gu which looked like a jellyfish as it floated in the sea. Another was red steel Relic Gu.

Yami's advancement to upper stage was because of the purified primeval essence by the Four Flavors Liquor worm and continuous nourishment of the aperture wall, causing a qualitative change. Yami hadn't used the red steel Relic Gu.

Just based on cultivation level, Yami would already be the third highest person among Rank two Gu Masters of Konoha clan. Akatsuchi and Hashirama were dead; Yami was in the top five even among the whole Elemental Mountain.

As for Torune and Hana, they originally were at Rank two upper stage but had advanced to peak stage not long ago. This could be said to have aroused the morale of the clansmen who were down after Hashirama's sacrifice.

Yami was progressing and others naturally were also progressing.

Torune and Hana had been in upper stage for quite a bit of time and had continuously been pressured by the peak stage Hashirama.

The intense stimulation of death brought by the wolf tide caused Gu Masters to have a deep thirst for power, squeezing out their potential and leading to cultivation advancement.

"But if we count fighting strength, I am the number one among the Rank two Gu Masters of the whole Elemental Mountain. Now, after I use this red steel Relic Gu, my cultivation will rise to peak stage and when combined with my deep experience, I can even battle Rank three Gu Masters to a certain degree," Yami calculated.

His low profile and patience had brought him plentiful gains now.

He could advance to this stage with just C grade aptitude, the whole clan would be shocked if they knew this. Even the A grade aptitude Naruto was only at Rank two middle stage.

Naturally, even if he advanced to peak stage, Yami couldn't win against Rank three Gu Masters.

Haku was able to surpass levels and kill a Rank three Gu Master because of his Northern Dark Ice Soul physique. Hashirama also could do that because he had the Wood Charm Gu, a powerful and special Rank three Gu worm.

In actuality, Yami had a much stronger trump card than them — Spring Autumn Cicada.

However, this Rank six Gu was very special, and Yami forced himself to not use it. Spring Autumn Cicada hadn't fully recovered and if it was forcefully used, whether it could rebirth would be a huge question mark.

The red steel Relic Gu was only effective to Rank two Gu Masters; there was no value in keeping it.

Yami was just about to use this Gu when there came a knock on the door.

Dong, dong, dong.

"Lord Yami, it is me, Jiro," a voice shouted after the knocking.

Yami frowned, this Jiro was getting more overbearing recently; he would repeatedly look for him to ask for vitality leaves.

The number of deaths and crippled people were increasing, causing the price of the vitality leaves to become increasingly higher and even becoming a situation of high demand but no supply.

"How many times have I told you that I don't have more vitality leaves. Get lost." Yami coldly snorted. How could he give up his cultivation time for trifle primeval stones earnings.

Outside the door, Jiro had a flattering smile on, "Lord Yami, please appease your anger. You are aware of the current situation, what choices do I have? Many Gu Masters know I sell vitality leaves and they all look for me. It is not easy for the little me to pass my days. How about this, I will pay ten percent more. Lord Yami, please be kind and give me a dozen vitality leaves."

After speaking, he started begging and his sound carried some sobbing.

Yami was indifferent, "That is your affair, what does it have to do with me? Hmph, your guts are getting bigger these days, you forgot the agreement between us and actually brought someone else."

"Ah….." Jiro gave a bitter smile outside the door. He looked at the old Gu Master beside him. He had no other way, this Gu Master was very powerful and had stubbornly followed him here.

"Little friend Yami." This old Gu Master spoke, "I am Homura, I believe you have heard of me. I came to purchase some vitality leaves and hope you, little friend, can show me some respect and give a little time to produce some."

"Give you respect. Heh, what reputation do you have?" Yami sneered. This Homura was somewhat famous, he was a retired Gu Master but had been brought back by the clan due to the wolf tide.

At his peak period, he had reached Rank three. However, because of injuries, his cultivation dropped down to Rank two peak stage and now due to his old age, his cultivation had further dropped down to Rank two upper stage.

Although his cultivation was the same as Yami, his fighting strength could not be compared to the latter.

Homura's expression was ashen, he had long heard of this eccentric loner Yami; a lad with a vicious and stubborn temper, arrogant and rude, considering everyone beneath him. He had prepared his heart before he came here, but to think that he had still underestimated Yami.

He wanted to use his reputation, but this usually successful method had no effect on Yami.

He felt his face burning and his heart filled with anger. He had lost all his honor right now!

"This disrespectful son of a bitch!" He cursed inwardly, but didn't leave.

He needed the vitality leaves!

He was an experienced man and deeply knew the importance of the vitality leaves. In times, a vitality leaf could mean the difference between life and death.

As one gets old, their courage starts to shrink.

Back when he was young, he was hot-blooded and easily excited. He wanted to protect the clanspeople, he wanted to change the world, he wanted to become a great hero! In those times, he had the resolution to view death as a return home!

However, right now he was old and was much more cool-headed. He had seen through many aspects of life in these years and could be said to have reflected on himself.

Especially after several of his children died, his heart had grown more cold.

Any organization needs sacrifices.

Resources are limited. Although they are produced all the time, they are also consumed. As such, this add and decrease limits the total amount.

Humans need food, clothes and lodging to survive; these are resources. Gu Masters need Gu worms, primeval stones and food to cultivate; these are also resources.

Becoming strong requires even more resources. But if you don't sacrifice, then where can I get more resources?

I rather compromise others than sacrifice my benefits!

Protecting, honor, family love, dreams, hot blood; they are all honorable reasons for sacrificing.

There are no organizations that do not encourage self-sacrifice. However, the higher-ups would never say that, they would instead talk of 'protecting, honor, family love, dreams, hot blood, happiness' and so on, and give all kinds of material benefits.

However, the material benefits are just nonsense once one dies. What could a dead 'great hero' enjoy?

Look at Hashirama.

He 'blissfully' died and was buried in the soil; his name carved in the gravestone as his spirit continues to influence future 'heroes'.

Jiro looked at the Homura whose face was grim, the former secretly feeling happy in his heart.

This old man had forcefully made Jiro bring him to this place. Jiro only had Rank one cultivation and was a junior, thus he had to lower his head to Homura and bring him here.

But now that he had been humiliated, Jiro's heart was envious of Yami's unrestrained personality.

Homura wanted to give Yami a few tight slaps, to lecture this arrogant junior. But for the vitality leaves, he had to control himself, "Junior Yami, you can't say that. You are still young, you don't know the importance of human relationships, there will come a time when you need to beg others. Just think, in future when you come to ask me for a favour and I treat you like this, how would you feel?"

"Bullcrap human relationships!" Yami laughed in disdain in his heart.

The so-called unity was just because they were individually weak.

Human relationships, it was important on earth. After all, there was no difference in personal strength among people. But in this world where people cultivated, things were inherently different.

Human relationships were just a byproduct of strength — if one is strong, their human relationships would thrive.

But for those who pursue relationships, they definitely have something to ask others of.

As for not needing relationships — if one is overly powerful, they can snatch anything they want, give it away or die, why would they need people's relationships?

These were demonic path thoughts, and Yami would naturally not advertise them publicly.

But since he was disturbed like this, Yami might as well do this business.

Thus, he said, "It's not that I can't sell it either. One vitality leaf for sixty-eight primeval stones. How many do you want?"

"Huh!" Homura outside the door was shocked by this price, quickly saying, "Junior Yami, this price is too expensive!"

Yami snorted, "Then don't buy it. Among the resources provided by the clan, there are also vitality leaves, you can exchange it with merit points."

Homura laughed bitterly, "How would I not know that, but these vitality leaves are all sold to those with relationships, the medicine hall clan elder Tsunade has complete control over it, how can I interfere? Junior Yami, sell me a favour, I will definitely repay you. From what I see, sixty primeval stones is a just price."

"I do not anticipate people's repayment, you have wasted enough of my time. Seventy primeval stones, if you don't want to buy it, leave." Yami responded.

Homura was furiously stomping, "Junior Yami, how can you do business like this?"

Yami snickered, "Times are different, it is seventy-two primeval stones now, every sentence you say wastes some of my time, and when I feel unhappy I will raise the price, I hope you can make the right decisions."

Hearing this, Homura's face became furious; he wanted to say something, but every time he opened his mouth, no words came out.

His hagged face was green and red, and Jiro who was beside him saw this and cheered internally.

Finally, he gritted his teeth, saying, "Okay, I'll buy it, I need five vitality leaves."

"You can hand the primeval stones to Jiro. As for the vitality leaves, collect them from him three days later." Yami said.

This was overbearing, trading goods and money was the most basic fairness.

But Homura still paid the money, handing multiple bags to Jiro on the spot.

His movements were slightly trembling, for this was his meagre savings, the savings from him scrimping throughout the years, and now they were all taken by a shrewd merchant!

Finally, he walked out of this bamboo building with an endless feeling of indignance.

"Lord Yami, what you did was really cool revenge! But I'm afraid you have completely offended Homura. This old man, when he was young he always took revenge on people, he would not let go of this easily." Outside, Jiro said carefully.

"Let him be, an old man relying on his seniority, he is bound to get eliminated by the clan." Yami opened the door, and Jiro handed him the bags.

The clan wants to resist the wolf tide, so that requires large amounts of resources. With less resources, they cannot maintain the large organisation structure, thus they would need to get rid of members.

These old men being alive were wasting precious scarce resources, they were destined to go.

The wolf packs eliminated the old and sickly, expelling the crippled wolves. In human society, they would not be so obvious, always masking their evil with a shield of light, thus they called these old Gu Masters to fight.

So what if Homura understood the intention?

Being in the system, a person in society, they had no choice.

The clan uses the reason of protecting their family and clan to call them to fight and sacrifice, how can they refuse?

On Earth there is a sentence, if the Emperor wants the subjects to die, they cannot do otherwise. But still countless people fight for the positions of being the emperor's subjects. This was the allure and cruelty of the system.

"Every round of the wolf tide in the past, those old Gu Masters who come out to fight, how many can survive? Let's not say five vitality leaves, even if we give this Homura fifty pieces, he might not make it out alive." Yami stood at the door, laughing coldly.

When Jiro heard this tone, his heart was freezing.

He could feel an aura from Yami, full of coldness and frost, like the northern winds blowing until he cannot raise his head.

Yami looked at Jiro, his eyes dark and black, continuing, "From now on, other than the arranged timings, you cannot look for me! If you break my rules, be prepared to face the consequences. Letting you sell the vitality leaves for me, is on account of your brother. But respect is given by others, and thrown away by ownself. Think over your own actions."

Jiro heard Yami's lecture, not daring to speak. Thinking of Homura's sad state, sweat poured from his forehead.

"Also, from now on, raise the price of the vitality leaves to seventy primeval stones." Yami said again.

"Seventy?!" Jiro was shocked as he gulped, his eyes shining, as if he can see an endless supply of primeval stones.

But he was also rather afraid, asking meekly, "Lord Yami, raising prices like this, will it cause others to think that we are growing a fortune through the misfortune? Would we have the suspicion of taking advantage of the clan's state? If we do this, we might incur public outrage."

"Public outrage? Hmph, what can they do, do what I order, don't talk crap. If someone finds trouble, tell them the vitality leaves are sold by me." Yami snorted.

"Yes, yes, yes." Jiro nodded furiously, Yami's words were what he wanted to hear, he was going to do this as well.

He was just a Rank one small fry, he cannot offend too many people. Throwing all these problems to Yami, he had already started doing so.

A small fry also has his own survival methods, and towards Jiro's intention, Yami was clear at heart.

But cultivation difference and era difference, results in Yami living a different lifestyle.

After using that red steel Relic Gu, he would be Rank two peak stage, near to Rank three. That means he has finally grown past the initial step, and having this strength means his life and future would be different.

In the past he needed to lay low, but now he needed to be oppressive.

Only when he is oppressive can he obtain the biggest benefit.

As for this Jiro, he still has some value to make use of. Even with his petty acts, as long as it does not infringe on Yami's benefits, he can tolerate it.

Even revealing some unimportant trump cards is not a big deal.

During peacetime, those higher-ups have nothing to do, thus they might find problems. But now that there is the wolf tide, who has the energy to care about such minute details?

After the wolf tide, it is not guaranteed that the Konoha Village still exists.


End file.
